Unidad Especial de Intervención

The Unidad Especial de Intervención (Special Intervention Unit, UEI) is the emergency response unit of the Spanish Guardia Civil (Gendarmery). Its motto is "Celeritas et Subtilitas Patrio".

The unit was created on 13 February 1982. It comprises approximately fifty people,Fact|date=October 2007 admitted after a rigorous selection procedure at the Special Training Centre (established on 6 August 1980), where candidates also receive intensive training in special tactics. The UEI's equipment is among the most modern and sophisticated in the Spanish security servicesFact|date=October 2007, and includes: Ruger 44 rifles, Uzi and Heckler & Koch submachine guns, and Winchester sniper rifles with telescopic sights. On operations UEI personnel wear black uniforms; otherwise, for security reasons, they wear nothing that identifies them as unit members.Fact|date=October 2007

The scope of UEI operations and total number of personnel are unknown. But it is known that the unit has participated in operations against terrorism.Fact|date=October 2007 One of its first operations was an assault on a prison following the kidnapping of 6 prison workers by 5 inmates.Fact|date=October 2007

Equipment

* Glock-17

[http://www.insigniaspoliciales.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=736&language=es U.E.I. Breast patche Guardia Civil.]

ee also

*Spanish special forces units
*Counter-terrorism