Alex Trelinski
ILLEGAL migrants from Algeria were kept in ‘inhumane conditions’ by a gang that charged them up to €15,000 to gain Spanish residency.
People were kept in a cage measuring just nine square metres while their documentation was sorted out.
The Policia Nacional have arrested 28 people in Zaragoza along with one each in Huesca and San Sabastian- all of different nationalities.
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Six ringleaders have been imprisoned.
The criminal organisation’s network had links to the Alicante, Murcia, Huesca and Guipuzcoa areas.
The gang maintained contact with groups shipping migrants from Algeria to the Spanish coast.
On arrival, travellers handed over their passports so that the residency process could start via a regularisation package that was specially put together for them.
Hefty fees ranging between €10,000 and €15,000 paid for bogus registrations, employment contracts or training courses which allowed migrants to gain temporary residency permits.
Marriages of convenience were also arranged with EU nationals to gain full residency rights with a charge between €2,000 and €6,000.
The Policia Nacional got involved after a spike in temporary residency applications from Algerian nationals that involved fake documents.
Investigations uncovered that an international criminal gang was operating in Spain.
It had a wide network of collaborators and intermediaries who created false job contracts with companies.
The group also had associates in France who supplied clients from the country wanting to live legally in Spain.
Potential applicants were told they could apply for Spanish residency without coming to France by sending photocopies of their passports, remote registrations, opening bank accounts and medical certificates.
‘Look-alikes’ were then employed by the gang to appear at appointments.
