The National Police have detained eight individuals in Alicante and Alfaz del Pi, linked to a criminal organisation accused of establishing fraudulent de facto partnerships between Spanish citizens and foreign nationals. These partnerships were formed to obtain exceptional temporary residency permits. Police sources indicate that the group charged up to four thousand euros to facilitate these procedures.

The operation was led by agents from the UCRIF, the Unit Against Illegal Immigration Networks and Document Fraud, after detecting a supposedly fictitious partnership. These so-called ‘white’ or ‘simulated’ unions allowed foreign citizens to secure residency permits under family ties through falsified registrations and documents. Individuals were registered at Spanish citizens’ addresses solely for the purpose of obtaining the necessary census certificate for partnership requests.

Investigations unveiled multiple registrations at a single property in Alfaz del Pi, where several alleged couples were documented. However, officers discovered only one actual resident, with the others having never lived there. This led to the identification of three simulated partnerships connected to the same address, culminating in a focus on three key players in the operation: the leaseholder, a woman recruiting Spanish citizens, and an intermediary contacting the foreigners.

Following the operation, authorities apprehended three foreign men aged between twenty-nine and thirty-one, who had paid for the bogus partnerships, as well as two women aged twenty-four and thirty-three who posed as their partners. They face charges of document fraud and aiding illegal immigration. Subsequently, three main suspects, two men and one woman aged between twenty-eight and sixty-five, were detained for their roles in facilitating illegal immigration, document fraud, and being part of a criminal group. The detainees have been presented before the Alicante court.