The Guardia Civil has dismantled a criminal organisation made up of 18 members dedicated to the theft of high-end vehicles, theft in inhabited homes, misappropriations, scams and fraud through simulations of crime, documentary falsehoods and money laundering.
The scale of the criminal activity of this organisation also included crimes committed against the rights of foreign citizens in various provinces of the national geography. The opening and rescue of fictitious and failed companies, respectively, served as an instrument and screen to facilitate criminal activities and cover the different modus operandi detected.
The investigation began in mid-September 2020 derived from individual robberies inside homes that occurred in the towns of Vinaròs and Peñíscola where, in addition to cash, two high-end vehicles were stolen.
From there, the Guardia Civil was able to discover the modus operandi of a complex criminal organisation, which used crimes of the most diverse types to carry out its activity.
Among the criminal offenses, thefts inside homes, crime simulations, fraud against insurance companies and scams against large companies in the renting sector stood out, to which they leased premium-range vehicles that, once rented, were transferred out of the country and placed for sale on the European second-hand market or in third countries. With the benefit of the illicit and taking advantage of the return trips, they acquired in the parallel import market high-end passenger cars, tractor units and semi-trailers that they imported to Spain for placement and sale, thus achieving laundering the high profits from their criminal activity.
Part of the stolen vehicles were in turn object of selective cutting in warehouses in the north of the province of Castellón, obtaining great benefits from their sale in the second-hand spare parts markets thanks to their network of contacts and the mechanical knowledge of part of the members of the organisation.
With the shell companies that they were creating, they simulated financial solvency by issuing false invoices to third-party collaborating companies. The Guardia Civil was able to verify that more than 300,000 euro were derived from the accounts of those investigated, who extracted the money at different ATMs of banking entities and then returned it to the collaborating companies (VAT fraud). The manipulation of promissory notes from different companies favoured the obtaining of liquidity by financiers and banks for commercial activities that were not actually carried out, trying to defraud banks and finance companies of more than 800,000 euro in manipulated promissory notes.
On the other hand, they also obtained benefits by simulating false employment contracts for immigrants who were illegally in Spain, who paid between 4,000 and 5,000 euro to the organisation to get their situation regularized. In the field of labour insertion, they also promoted the hiring of vulnerable people in order to obtain public aid and subsidies, who were fired once they were obtained.
After multiple investigation tasks, surveillance tasks, discreet monitoring and police monitoring of the criminal network, the Guardia Civil obtained clear evidence of the structure, coordination and territorial ramifications that covered the numerous criminal acts carried out both in the province of Castellón and in other provinces.
Thus, on March 23 and 24, the operation was carried out simultaneously in the provinces of Castellón, Valencia, Alicante and Albacete. 13 searches were carried out with a court order in homes, workshops, agencies and warehouses, with the result of 18 people arrested and the apprehension of 14 high-end vehicles valued at more than 500,000 euro, 3 tractor units worth 120,000 euro, 45,000 euro in cash, a large quantity of vehicle parts stolen in different European countries (Switzerland, France, etc.) and numerous documentation that is being analysed.
Among the detainees are several businessmen who, from the top of the organisation, were advised by staff from two agencies and a lawyer who were also detained, and several people who were in charge of traveling abroad, coordinating operations, and executing the tasks.
Fourteen accusations have also been issued with the corresponding request to the Europol authorities in France, Germany and Romania for the seizure of high-end vehicles stolen in Spain valued at more than 550,000 euro. On the other hand, 108 bank accounts of the individuals and legal entities investigated have been blocked.
