A plot paid up to 400 euros to women from Córdoba to falsify residence permits

To do this, those arrested arranged marriages of convenience between Moroccan and Maghreb citizens and Spanish national women, the majority residing in Cordovawith the aim of regularizing their situation.

Some of the latter, which granted the status of community citizen to the residence permit applicants in Spain, they had previously been de facto couples with other citizens of the same nationality and for the same purpose.

The operation has resulted in the arrest of 32 people of different nationalities – Spanish, Maghreb and Moroccan -, as well as the main leader of the organization, a 43-year-old citizen of Maghreb origin with numerous records for crimes of another nature. , as alleged authors of favoring illegal immigration, falsifying documents and belonging to a criminal organization.

“White” or convenience marriages

The investigation began in February of this year, after the agents of the Provincial Immigration Brigade several applications for residence permits from family members of Union citizens, which could be “white” or marriages of convenience, with the aim of being eligible for the residence permits outlined above, drawing attention in the first instance to the great difference existing age between couples.

From the first investigations and after an exhaustive analysis of the documentation by the researchers, they verified how the Spanish citizens who granted the status of community citizens to the applicants for the residence permit in Spain, all of them of Maghreb and Moroccan origin, already They had previously been de facto couples with other citizens of the same nationality and for the same purpose, and it also happened that some of these women had already been arrested in 2016 for similar events.

The criminal organization was based mainly in the town of Pozo Alcón (Jaén) and in the capital – Jaén -, although it also had branches in Cordova and Malaga.

Women residents in Córdoba

He modus operandi used by the organization consisted of recruiting Spanish citizens, the vast majority being resident women in Cordovawhich through the pay of a sum of money that was around 400 euros approximately, they agreed to register as a de facto couple in the Registry of Córdoba, with foreign citizens of North African originwith whom they did not have any type of intimate or emotional relationship, so that once registered, they could obtain the benefit granted by the condition of being a family member of a community citizen, thus facilitating access to a residence and work permit in Spain.

Once the registration record as a de facto couple was obtained, the criminal organization was in charge of obtaining “ad hoc” to these foreign citizens the rest of the necessary requirements for granting a residence permit in Spain, such as false registration certificates, fictitious registrations in Social Security, registrations of false self-employed workers and medical insurance, among others, all of which require They charged amounts that could reach 5,000 euros.

Twenty fraudulent applications

During the investigation, the agents detected a total of 20 fraudulent community family permit applications, achieving the termination of 14 permits obtained in fraud of law. Likewise, they have proceeded to the extinction of 20 de facto couple registrations made fraudulently in Córdoba.

With the exploitation of this operation, a total of 32 people have been arrested, as well as the main leader of the organization, a 43-year-old man of Maghreb nationality, who has an extensive criminal record, all of them detained for being involved in crimes of favoring illegal immigration, falsifying documents and belonging to a criminal organization. All detainees were placed at the disposal of the competent Judicial Authority.