Six arrested for fraudulently registering foreigners on municipal rolls for payment in Ávila and Toledo
Law enforcement has dismantled two organisations that charged between 200 and 600 euros for fictitious registration on the municipal register, with 27 victims located in Ávila and 400 irregularities detected in Seseña.
Six arrested for fraudulently registering foreigners on municipal rolls for payment in Ávila and Toledo
A total of six individuals have been brought before the courts after being arrested in operations against networks that profited from the illegal registration of foreign nationals. The arrests took place in the city of Ávila, where two suspects were apprehended, and in the Toledo municipality of Seseña, where four others were detained.
In the Ávila case, the National Police arrested a Spanish national and a man of Moroccan origin who acted as a recruiter within the North African community. The pair demanded sums ranging from 200 to 600 euros for each registration processed with the local register. Officers have traced 27 foreign nationals—with and without residence permits—who appeared on the municipal roll for four different addresses where they did not actually reside.
The investigation began two months ago when the Ávila municipal authority noticed suspicious concentrations of registrations at certain properties in very short intervals. The ringleaders fabricated false rental contracts and obtained owners' signatures through financial compensation. With the registration certificate in their possession, the victims attempted to prove residency in order to bring relatives together, obtain work or residence permits, or access healthcare and social benefits.
In Seseña, the Civil Guard discovered up to 400 irregular registrations, 91 of them concentrated in a single property. The four arrested individuals demanded between 300 and 400 euros for each transaction. The gang recruited undocumented immigrants to whom they promised to legalise their stay in exchange for money.
Both investigations remain active and further arrests and the discovery of additional properties used for these purposes have not been ruled out. The suspects arrested in Ávila are charged with falsification of official documents and aiding illegal immigration.
Source: El País
Source: El País