The Civil Guard, in the so-called “Mano Negra” operation, has dismantled an organization dedicated to appropriating the inheritances of 22 deceased elderly people who increased their activity due to deaths resulting from the pandemic.
In total, eight people have been arrested and another three have been investigated for the crimes of criminal organization, robbery, fraud, document falsification, misappropriation, money laundering, usurpation of civil status and
illegal possession of weapons in the provinces of Alicante, Valencia and Bizkaia.
To date, a total of 22 deceased who have been victims of this criminal group have been identified, these two being Spanish, five French, one Belgian, four Swiss, one British, eight German, and one Finnish, with most of them lacking they from known heirs. It is not ruled out that the number of victims will increase.
Start of the investigation
The agents in May 2021 learned that someone had removed the judicial seals from a house located in Benissa in which he carried out reforms and stole various objects, including a motorcycle.
high end.
In a first phase, the agents did not take long to identify two members of the criminal group who worked in a funeral home located in the Marina Alta region. In addition to stealing jewelry from the deceased not claimed by their relatives, they passed on information to rob the homes of the deceased and obtain their bank details.
Leaders Participation
After making sure that no family member claimed the body of the deceased, the leaders of the organization began to act: two brothers residing in Bilbao, a 63-year-old woman with studies in Law and a 54-year-old man who was an insurance mediator.
The woman was a manager of 12 companies, including two real estate agencies and four agencies, and the man was the owner of an insurance brokerage.
The real estate, located in Denia and the Basque Country, were used to rent and sell the properties of the deceased. Through the agencies, which were in Bilbao and Cantabria, they converted through false contracts
commercial services to the deceased as guarantors of their companies. In this way they achieved that the deceased had a patrimonial responsibility and thus, they kept their assets in a very economical way.
To evade taxes, the brothers used a construction and renovation company, an insurance processing office, a mechanical workshop in Bilbao, two hotels in the provinces of Murcia and Valencia, a restaurant in Denia and two offshore companies in Ireland and Malta. They even took control of a cultural association in Bilbao to simulate donations and non-payments while the deceased were alive.
Among the members of the gang, there is also a former worker from a town hall in the Marina Alta region, who, through his knowledge, advised and made cadastral modifications to irregularly register the properties in the Property Registry.
Another detainee is a worker at a nursing home in the same region, who obtained the documentation and bank codes of his victims, transferring more than 112.000 euros from two nonagenarian residents of German and Swiss nationalities to the bank accounts of the criminal group.
The criminal group increased its criminal activity due to the increase in the number of elderly people who died from the latest pandemic, the difficulties families have in taking care of their bodies, and the lack of heirs.
known in other cases.
In addition, the criminal organization had fraudulently initiated the usucapion procedure to acquire some properties with their prolonged use within the legally stipulated period. To do this, they made the payment
taxes and basic supplies and, to offset these losses, rented them out as vacation rentals.
Exploitation of the operation
Investigators confirmed the participation of this group in the illegal appropriation of 20 properties with a value of more than three million euros, four of them in the French city of Paris.
Given the risk of flight of one of the leaders, last October seven searches were carried out in different locations in the provinces of Alicante, Valencia and Bizkaia. In these searches, seven men and one woman were arrested and three other people were investigated.
Five firearms, almost 100 pieces of jewelry, 11.000 euros in cash, various computer and mobile phone devices, eight motor vehicles, a cold cryptocurrency wallet, 20 properties and 71 bank accounts that are being analyzed have also been seized.
To date, a total of 22 deceased who have been victims of this criminal group have been identified, these two being Spanish, five French, one Belgian, four Swiss, one British, eight German, and one Finnish, with most of them lacking they from known heirs.
The Civil Guard does not end this operation since it does not rule out that it could increase the number of those affected. The operation has been carried out by agents of the Territorial Team of the Judicial Police of Calpe and the Economic Crime Team of the Organic Unit of the Judicial Police of Alicante. Likewise, there has been the collaboration of the Citizen Security units of the Calpe Company and the Valencia Command, as well as personnel from the Organic Unit of the Judicial Police of the Alicante and Bizkaia Commands.
The Investigating Court No. 2 of Denia has ordered the entry into prison without bail for the female leader of the gang and has ordered precautionary measures for the rest.
Terrible news and how many more are there loose that do the same?