• The operation has resulted in ten people being arrested in Cartagena and Alicante and six searches of industrial warehouses, homes and companies in the port city.

• The suspects simulated issuing fictitious employment contracts to facilitate obtaining residence and work permits

• The collaboration and coordinated and ongoing work between Customs Surveillance of the Tax Agency and the National Police has made it possible to seize more than 44,000 euros in cash and a large amount of documentation

May 25, 2026. Customs Surveillance officials from the Tax Agency and agents of the National Police have dismantled a criminal organization in Murcia dedicated to tax fraud and facilitating the irregular regularization of foreign citizens with the arrest of ten people accused of committing crimes of belonging to a criminal organization, favoring irregular immigration, money laundering and tax crimes.

The ongoing collaboration between Customs Surveillance and the National Police in the Region of Murcia has enabled a joint investigation in recent months, leading to the identification and arrest of the members of this criminal organization. This organization used various companies and commercial establishments linked to the food and wholesale trade sector to issue allegedly fictitious employment contracts that were submitted to applications for regularization of residence and work permits in various immigration offices.

At the same time, the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency was investigating the scheme, having detected evidence of possible intra-community VAT fraud and money laundering. The network pretended that the goods acquired by the companies under investigation were destined for France, when in reality they were sold in Spain, thus avoiding the corresponding Value Added Tax. It has been found that in 2022 the organization defrauded 1.2 million euros in VAT and Corporate Income Tax. The fraud committed in the years 2023, 2024 and 2025 is pending quantification.

The final phase of the investigation involved the search of six industrial warehouses, homes and companies located in Cartagena by Customs Surveillance, the National Police and the Provincial Labor and Social Security Inspectorate of Murcia, allowing the detection of evidence of no real activity in some of the declared workplaces, as well as short-term employment registrations and possible connections with business networks investigated for tax fraud and money laundering. In addition, 44,375 euros in cash were seized.

Finally, a total of ten people were arrested and brought before the courts, charged with crimes of criminal organization, facilitating irregular immigration, money laundering and tax crimes.

The investigations remain open and are being coordinated with the various collaborating agencies in order to determine the full scope of the events under investigation and the possible criminal liability of the people involved.