In a joint effort, the Spanish National Police and the Customs Unit of the Tax Agency have successfully apprehended 64 individuals involved in obtaining counterfeit documents for unrestricted travel across the Schengen Area. The arrests were made after people were found to possess false driving licenses, passports, and identity cards.
The Spanish Interior Ministry issued a statement announcing the outcome of the operation. In addition to the arrests, authorities seized 136 counterfeit documents, all bearing European citizenship. These fraudulent documents acquired through social networks, with prices ranging from €1,000 to €3,000.
The investigation was initiated by the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency, which closely monitors parcel shipments from abroad. Authorities were able to identify suspicious shipments containing forged documents. To verify the intercepted documents, they sought assistance from the National Police of Athens.
Among the 64 apprehended individuals, 24 were captured in the capital city of Madrid. They now face charges related to smuggling, document forgery, and offenses against the rights of foreign citizens. Specifically, they are accused of facilitating irregular immigration, a pressing issue that Spain has been dealing with in recent times.
In a separate operation called Sortie 23, the Spanish Civil Guard arrested seven individuals linked to a criminal organisation involved in providing false documentation to immigrants in the Canary Islands. The group would then help these immigrants relocate to other regions of Spain or even European countries, particularly Italy. The arrests took place in Murcia, Valencia, and Huelva, with multiple addresses being searched. As a result, numerous documents, third-party passports, money, and mobile phones were seized.
Moreover, the Spanish police also apprehended the leader of the criminal organisation, who had attempted to facilitate the illegal departure of two minors from Valencia to Italy using forged documents.
Clampdown
This isn’t the first crackdown on such criminal activities in Spain. Earlier this year, the Spanish Civil Guard detained nine individuals accused of perpetrating more than a hundred frauds related to the regularisation of immigrants. The group allegedly received payments ranging from €500 to €700 for assisting migrants in registering their residence in the Community of Navarre.
The Spanish authorities remain committed to targeting individuals and criminal organizations involved in the production and distribution of counterfeit documents for travel within the Schengen Area. These recent operations serve as a clear demonstration of the government’s determination to combat irregular immigration and uphold the integrity of identity and travel documents.