Spanish Police Bust Fake Work Contract Ring Exploiting Undocumented Migrants

The network operated from Sant Cugat del Vallès (Barcelona), the police said, informing that 17 other people were arrested during the operation which is the culmination of an investigation launched since January 2020. At the time, the national police had suspected acts of fraud after recording around forty files of applications for residence permits on humanitarian grounds, filed by irregular Moroccan and Pakistani migrants in Spain. Most of them resided in Barcelona for years and had provided a domestic work contract, reports 20minutos.

The network, made up of six people, contacted these irregular migrants who were willing to go into debt or sell their properties in Morocco and Pakistan to obtain a residence permit. According to the police, most migrants paid up to 8,000 euros to the network after finalizing their file.

The forgers in the network are accused of crimes of document forgery, violation of the rights of foreign citizens and the crime of belonging to a criminal organization. As for the 17 other accomplices, they are prosecuted for fraud, forgery and use of forgery and violation of the rights of foreigners.