A priest is among 34 people arrested in Spain in connection with a network that staged "marriages of convenience" for immigrants, mostly Colombians linked to drug trafficking.
The police said the immigrants had paid the gang between €10 000 (R115 000) and €12 000 (R135 000) to marry a Spaniard in order to gain residency papers.
They said the Spanish "spouses" had earned €3 000 each and the witnesses €200.
The gang is suspected of staging more than 100 such "marriages of convenience" and also of forging marriage certificates, which saved on the cost of paying for a Spanish "spouse".
The 34 people arrested included a Colombian-born priest, a civil servant and a Colombian-born woman identified as "Claudia", who claimed to be a lawyer.
Continues Below ↓
They are charged with fraud, forging official documents and violating the law on foreigners.
The police said they believed Claudia had organised at least 78 marriages of convenience in the Madrid region.
Her clients "were usually of Colombian origin and linked to drug trafficking".
The number of immigrants in Spain has shot up from 500 000 in 1996 to 5.2 million, including 2.2 million from outside the EU, out of a total population of 46 million.
A large proportion are employed in the service sector and construction industry, which have been especially hard-hit by the economic crisis. - AFP
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
