A MAN used the address of his deceased father’s Valencia area apartment as a money-making ruse to illegally register over 100 foreign nationals.
The 35-year-old Spaniard has been arrested at Barcelona airport with two others being investigated by the Guardia Civil and Policia Nacional.
The detainee faces charges of bribery, fraud, allowing illegal immigration, and forgery.
READ MORE:
He was caught out after authorities checked the municipal padron in Sueca and found over 100 people registered at the same address.
The fraudulent registrations started at the end of 2021 and ran into early 2023, and were mainly Algerian and Moroccan nationals.
The property belonged to a dual-national Spansh-Moroccan who died in August 2021.
His son took advantage of the situation by falsifying registrations using the address and got several people onto the padron on consecutive days.
On one occasion, he got seven people registered on the same date.
The con was about getting non-Spaniards an NIE document and regularising their stay in Spain.
He even published an advert on a social media platform offering the service for a fee.
Several witnesses told officers that they made cash payments to him.
The police probe uncovered that he got help from Sueca council workers who are the two people under investigation.