Five Arrested in Fake Licence Scam

Officers from the National Police have arrested four people for being part of a group who would help people obtain a driving licence by fraudulent means.

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The officers also charged a fifth person as alleged perpetrators of criminal offences including the disclosure of secrets, document forgery and crimes against the State Administration.

The arrests were made in Palma de Mallorca, following an investigation into the group who would assist foreign citizens who couldn´t understand Spanish in passing their theoretical test. The group would use technical and electrical devices to achieve this.

The investigators discovered that the examinees entered the examination room with a mobile phone camera, hidden under their clothes and with the camera at an angle to view the exam, so that another person located in the exterior of the Provincial Traffic Headquarters and expert in traffic matters, answered the questions through a headset.

After analysing all the data obtained, the officers arrested an examiner in situ at the time of the test and the expert who was reporting the answers. In addition, they detained two other people, the person in charge and another who was in charge of looking for people with problems in the comprehension and reading of Spanish, for which they would charge between 1,500 and 3,000 euro for the privilege.

So far, the detainees were all of Indian origin, but the officers then arrested a 61-year-old Spaniard whose job was to help them to pass the practical examination.

With the five people already charged, the operation remains open and new arrests are not ruled out.