MADRID, May 9 (NNN-EFE) — Spanish police have arrested 82 people and seized 58 luxury vehicles in a sweeping operation across the nation to dismantle an organized crime ring that is estimated to have turned over 10 million euros by fraudulently selling rental cars.
Spain’s national police said the organization was tightly structured and distributed in six hubs in Alicante, Almeria, Jaen, Madrid, Murcia and Tarragona.
The criminal enterprise created businesses to rent or lease high-end vehicles and would then falsify the documents to sell the vehicles at a lower than market price in Spain and elsewhere in Europe.
The investigation began in February when authorities stopped a Romanian driver on the Slovenian border who had a falsified driving license.
The car, which was owned by a rental company in Spain, had been registered 10 days prior in Murcia and delivered to a company in Barcelona.
Shortly after, another person was caught crossing the same border with a falsified license. Authorities discovered that the luxury car was also linked to a Spanish rental company and had been sold with fake documentation.
The two drivers, in this case, had recently traveled to Spain on a one-way ticket.
The resulting investigation uncovered a well-organized criminal ring active across Spain.
Police arrested a total of 82 people of Spanish and Romanian nationality and raided homes and business establishments linked to the gang. — NNN-EFE
