MADRID (AP) — Spain's Civil Guard police are searching offices of China's ICBC bank in downtown Madrid as part of a money laundering and tax fraud probe.

A police statement said Wednesday's search of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China was a follow-up on a police operation in 2015 that targeted gangs using the bank to launder to China some 40 million euros ($45 million) proceeding from Chinese-run bargain stores across Spain.

Police said arrests were expected.

The statement said the operation was carried out in coordination with Spain's anti-corruption prosecutors' office.

It said a judge in Parla, a town in the southern part of Madrid where many of the Chinese store wholesalers are located, had ordered the raid and placed a secrecy order on the investigations.