National Police have arrested two people in Badalona on suspicion of selling fraudulent empadronamientos, municipal proof of address registrations, to undocumented foreign nationals for €500 to €1,000 each. Police say the documents were used to simulate residence in Spain in order to support applications for residence and or work permits.

For residents in Badalona, the case centres on activity near local citizen service offices, where officers say the suspects looked for people needing registration documents. Police have not published the names, ages or nationalities of the two detainees, but say both are accused of facilitating illegal immigration and that the operation remains open.

Police say the scheme targeted people outside public offices

According to the National Police, the investigation was led for several months by a group within the Provincial Immigration and Borders Brigade at the Superior Police Headquarters of Catalonia. Officers say the suspects positioned themselves near citizen service offices in Badalona so they could more easily find people seeking paperwork linked to immigration procedures.

Police say the pair offered false registrations that allowed third-country nationals, meaning people from outside the European Union, to appear to be living at an address in Spain when they were not.

The National Police said the two arrested people were selling fraudulent registrations that allowed foreign citizens to simulate a stay in Spanish territory with the aim of obtaining a residence and or work permit.

Two properties were allegedly used for fictitious registrations

The operation, named Costa and carried out by the Local Immigration and Borders Brigade, ended with the arrest of the owners of two homes from which the fictitious registrations were allegedly authorised, according to the police account carried by the source material.

Police say the organisers also recruited property owners or tenants and offered them a share of the profits in exchange for allowing immigrants to be falsely registered at their homes. After gathering evidence, officers arrested the two suspects in Badalona.

  • Police say each false registration cost between €500 and €1,000.
  • The investigation had been under way for several months.
  • Officers say the suspects operated near citizen service offices in Badalona.

The force has not ruled out further arrests and says other people may still have been involved in the scheme.

No court dates, defence statements or further identifying details for the suspects had been published at the time of the police announcement.

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