Elderly expats villa used to register illegal immigrants

THREE people were arrested for registering illegal immigrants at a luxury villa in San Fulgencio belonging to an elderly expatriate couple.

San Fulgencio police alerted the Guardia Civil in July after they detected irregularities during a routine inspection of new citizens who have registered in the municipality.

Local Police Officers met the owners of the villa to determine if the names on the list were actually renting the property. They were ‘unaware’ that their property had a large number of Moroccan immigrants registered at their property. A rental contract to a Moroccan man had their personal details and signatures.

The woman who cleaned their home had apparently convinced them to sign an empty rental contract, so that the property could be rented out if the opportunity arose during times they were not in the country, according to a Guardia Civil statement.

The 63-year-old domestic worker, her 40-year-old daughter and a 26-year-old Moroccan man had apparently been operating a lucrative business registering illegal immigrants from Morocco at the villa’s address.

Immigrants could then apply for family reunification. They would allegedly charge €1,000 to €5,000, depending on the number of relatives wanting to live in Spain. The three detainees have been charged with forgery and crimes against foreign worker’s rights in Spain.

Guardia Civil are still investigating the case as they believe that the detainees may be related to a larger organization.