Joanne Oakley
THE Policia National has detained 34 members of a criminal network allegedly involved in illegal immigration.
Those arrested were held for crimes of forgery, promotion of illegal crime and belonging to a criminal organization.
In the police operation named ‘Llama’, agents arrested 28 foreigners and six Spaniards.
Arrests were carried out in Malaga (18 people), Melilla (15) and one in Manacor (Menorca).
The investigation was discovered following several reports that pointed to the existence of a group of people involved in the fraudulent movement of foreign citizens in our country.
The network was perfectly structured on three levels, each performing distinct roles within the organization.
The first one was made up of a Spanish citizen and a Moroccan citizen who ran an operations centre where false lease contracts were drawn up, among other documents.
The second level was made up of people who dealt directly with the principal investigators and were responsible for appearing as landlords.
Finally, there would be foreigners who would use these false contracts to apply for residence permits.
This operation ended with the dismantling of a criminal network and the arrest of 34 people for their alleged involvement in the network.
These residency permits obtained fraudulently can be cancelled followed by the expulsion of those residents from Spain as well as prevent the entry at the borders.
