Huge police operation against network of counterfeiters of driving licenses

BARCELONAThe police are have been carrying out a huge operation since early this morning against a network implicated in forgery of driving licenses, centred around Girona. The organisation would distributed up to a thousand fake licenses throughout the state. The operation is being carried out in 25 state districts and is expected to end with about a thousand arrests in the coming days, most of them customers who bought these fake driving licenses.

Fraudulent licences and driving licence points

The network was dedicated to the issuance and distribution of driving documentation from official data records of the Directorate General of Traffic (DGT) in Girona. The link with the group was a computer scientist who worked for this body and who, according to the Calan police, the Mossos d'Esquadra, was responsible for the forgery of licenses and also committed fraud over license points, which he reinstated to clients without following the official channel, all with the aim of making a profit.

Throughout the morning, searches were carried out in the Girona area, specifically in Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Calonge, Vic, Llagostera and Quart. According to the EFE Agency, in S'Agaró officers arrested the alleged mastermind behind the group, the computer scientist working for the Directorate General of Traffic. The investigation, which is led by the Criminal Investigation Division of the Mossos d'Esquadra and the Investigation Corps of the Spanish National Police, is sub judice.

There are also other suspects who were responsible for the recruitment of customers who paid amounts ranging from €3,000 to €15,000. The investigation, which identified up to four levels within the criminal network, started last November and it is thought to have distributed about 1,800 fraudulent cards up until February. It has not been ruled out, however, that after the investigation this figure will eventually increase.