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Date Published: 19/05/2022
ARCHIVED - Marriage-for-residency scam uncovered in Alicante and Murcia
129 people have been arrested in the Costa Blanca for their part in the “ingenious” marriage of convenience scam
The National Police has dismantled an “ingenious” criminal network dedicated to creating false marriages of convenience so that non-EU citizens, mainly from Morocco and Algeria, could obtain residency in Spain. The network was headed by an Elche lawyer and had been running successfully since 2017 in both Alicante and Murcia.
The investigation, code named PolaSanta, has lasted for three years and culminated in the arrest of 129 people, 66 men and 63 women, of various nationalities, between the ages of 23 and 71.
According to officers, the scam worked by selecting a Spanish person to marry the non-national, thus providing the migrant with a residence permit, for which he or she paid around 10,000 euros. These marriages of convenience were almost exclusively carried out in Santa Pola.
The Elche lawyer allegedly instructed the contracting parties “meticulously” on how to conduct convincing marriage interviews, helped the foreign nationals illegally register on the ‘padron’ of their town and even created false lease contracts for homes the couples supposedly shared. In the course of the investigation, two Alicante real estate agencies were also implicated in the scam.
The scheme reached even farther, however, as the lawyer had to concoct an elaborate network of “false witnesses” who could attest to the legitimacy of the married couple.
The detainees now face charges of crimes against the rights of foreign citizens, false documents, false testimony and belonging to criminal group.
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