Agents of the National Police, in a joint operation with the Romanian Police, have arrested 21 people and recovered 24 high-end vehicles in an operation against illicit vehicle trafficking.
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The members of the highly structured organization misappropriated vehicles in Spain, falsified their documentation and sold them fraudulently in third countries, mainly in Romania.
16 vehicles have been seized in Romania and 8 in Spain for a value amounting to 1,000,000 euros in addition to forged Spanish driving licences, registration plates,
The way of acting of this organization consisted of the purchase of vehicles both from companies and individuals through financing, using "mules" or people dedicated to this work.
As they progressed in specialization, the members of the group began to create fictitious companies in order to access financing for vehicle fleets, some of them high-end, to evade the fraud detection mechanisms of financial companies.
Once the vehicles were in the organization's possession, they falsified the necessary documents and transported them to third countries such as Romania, France, Germany and Portugal, where they were acquired by bona fide buyers.
In this way, the members of the organization caused double damage, on the one hand to the financial institutions to which they did not pay the quotas, and on the other to the buyers who acquired a vehicle of illegal origin without being aware of it.
The organization was strongly structured into five role groups.
On the one hand were the collectors, whose task was to search for the "mules", in charge of acquiring the vehicles in their name or that of companies and fictitious companies.
At a third level were the people who were dedicated to falsifying the documentation of the vehicles and the companies used.
In addition, the criminal group had drivers who knew secondary roads and roads on the route between Spain and Romania and thus avoided possible checkpoints on main roads.
Finally, there were the sellers who received the cars in Romania, registered them using false documentation, and sold them.
Subsequently, the investigators moved to Romania where seven other members of the organization were arrested, four of whom were remanded in custody.
However, the leader of the organization managed to flee and left the country, for which the Romanian authorities issued a European Arrest Warrant for Extradition against him.
The investigators obtained information that the ringleader of the group could be in Spain, so efforts to locate him began, which occurred in the Madrid municipality of Alcalá de Henares, where he was arrested.
Between the two countries, 24 vehicles have been seized -16 in Romania and eight in Spain- whose market value amounts to 1,000,000 euros in addition to forged Spanish driving licences, numerous license plates, a large amount of vehicle documentation, useful for the theft and subsequent falsification of the same and cash. ■