The National Police have dismantled in Cartagena (Murcia) a criminal organisation dedicated to fraudulently registering immigrants in an irregular situation in flats in the historic centre of the port city by means of false rental contracts, according to sources from the Corps in a communiqué.
Once the contracts had been formalised and the immigrants, who never actually lived in the flats and in many cases did not even know where they were located, proceeded to formalise various applications for residency in Spain.
For the preparation of the documentation and its subsequent processing and presentation at the Town Hall, the immigrants were required to pay amounts ranging from 300 to 1,200 euros, depending on how long they needed to be registered in the municipal register.
During the course of the investigation, the National Police worked in close collaboration with the Statistics Service of the Cartagena City Council, thanks to which a considerable number of simulated registrations were detected through false documentation.
The investigation has been carried out by the Aliens and Borders Brigade of Cartagena, which is part of the Murcia Regional Police Headquarters.
Those arrested have been handed over to the Examining Magistrate’s Court of Cartagena.