The National Police has intercepted almost 600 Venezuelan driving licenses falsified and prepared to be exchanged for Spanish permits. The intervention of these documents have been practiced during the fourth phase of the police operation, which has allowed the arrest of 436 people in eleven Spanish provinces.
The detainees obtained the false documentation through social networks, where criminal groups located in Venezuela They charged them an average of $ 90 and promised to deliver, in two or three days, by post, the Venezuelan driver’s license. Since August 2017, a new format has been issued in Venezuela that does not meet the legal requirements for the exchange process, which is why these citizens resorted to criminal groups to obtain a forgery of the previous format.
The fraud had spread throughout the Spanish territory because, in the cities with the greatest presence of Venezuelan citizens, they had many difficulties to get an appointment at the Traffic Headquarters, so they requested them in less crowded border headquarters. As a consequence of what happened, the General Directorate of Traffic suspended the exchange procedure with Venezuela from March 15, 2021.
The investigation, which began in early 2020, It has culminated in the arrest of 436 Venezuelans. Specifically, 23 have been arrested in Malaga, 312 in Madrid, 46 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 13 in Guipúzcoa, eleven in Seville, nine in Álava, another nine in Alicante, seven in Barcelona, four in Ciudad Real and one in the provinces of Badajoz and Pontevedra. Their holders have not been able to prove that they have a legal driving license, with the consequent danger that this entails for road safety.
With this last phase, a total of 1,237 people have been arrested and 1,695 documents have been intervened, of which 373 are Spanish and 1,322 Venezuelans.
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