A criminal gang that swindled 100,000 euros from young South Americans who wanted to be soccer players dismantled

The operation has allowed twelve people to be arrested in Orihuela, Elche and the autonomous city. The operation remains open and more arrests are not ruled out, as reported by the Headquarters in a statement.

So far, a total of 50 victims have been identified, aged between 16 and 21 years and coming mainly from South American countries. It is estimated that the money swindled from all of them amounts to 100,000 euros.

The organization had extensive experience in the world of sports, specifically in football. It used a hierarchical structure and its alleged members were charged with the crimes of belonging to a criminal organization, against the rights of foreign citizens, abandonment of minors, fraud and against the rights of workers.

The police investigation began after learning that, at a well-known NGO in Elche (Alicante), a minor of Colombian origin appeared and requested accommodation and maintenance, given the situation in which he found himself. This person resided in the town of Elche, where he had arrived after being captured in his country of origin to supposedly come to Spain to play in the Spanish soccer league.

This minor lived together with other minors and young people of South American origin, who went through the same process. The victims covered the travel expenses and paid the alleged fraudsters about 2,000 euros each for maintenance and accommodation in Spain, an amount that according to the members of the organization they had already consumed within a few days of being in Spain, so They asked for more money.

As the injured parties did not have more liquidity – nor did their relatives in their countries of origin – the criminal organization ignored them, which is why the minor went to the NGO to ask for help. In the apartments, the victims were in unhealthy, overcrowded and poorly maintained conditions.

Apparently, the organization had recruiters in the countries of origin, whose ‘modus operandi’ consisted, first of all, of carrying out a selection and recruitment of young people, all of them with little or no interest in the football level, who paid the amount agreed to the organization. Later, other members transported these people to Spain.

To gain the trust of the victims, the gang acted through an alleged footballer representation agency, whose manager and other collaborators were also allegedly part of the criminal structure investigated.

Once they arrived in Spain, the victims were placed in the care of those responsible for alleged teams, who abandoned them after ensuring that they could not get more money from their victims, at which point the young people realized the impossibility of regularizing their situation or to carve out a professional future in the Spanish league, and assumed that they had been scammed.

During the operation, two home searches were carried out in which numerous documentation and electronic devices were seized. In addition, several bank accounts were blocked.

The detainees, of Spanish and Colombian nationality, have been placed at the disposal of the Investigative Courts on duty in the municipalities where the arrests took place.