A 45 year old man has been arrested as an alleged perpetrator of a series of scams in the towns of San Miguel de Salinas and San Bartolomé, as well as in Abanilla (Murcia). He was part of a network that, through a bankrupt company in Castellon, harvested 500 tonnes of mandarins without paying the later operations, worth around 400,000 Euro.
Agents of the ROCA Team of the Guardia Civil began an investigation last March following the allegations of several producers in the Vega Baja for alleged scams committed during the citrus harvest campaigns.
During the harvest season, representatives of a distribution company based in Castellon had visited the farms in the area and negotiated prices with several growers for the acquisition of the production.
The representatives signed several contracts for the purchase and sales of the citrus harvest, with the Castellon-based company taking over the task of hiring the staff for the harvest through a temporary labour firm.
However, the producers realised that, despite harvesting in record time, many fruits were left in the trees. Once the workers were gone, the owners of the crops didn't hear anything else about the company or the payment, which was never made.
The agents found that this network had scammed several growers of the Vega Baja and Murcia with the same method and had taken possession of more than 500 tonnes of citrus.
Through the monitoring of several traces left by the representatives, the Guardia Civil connected the actions with a bankrupt company based in Castellon, which the suspects allegedly used to carry out these activities.
With it, they prepared the purchase contracts for the citrus harvest and then transferred the product harvested to another company based in Bordeaux, France, from where they operated without declaring the income to Spain.
The Guardia Civil continues investigating the case, which could lead to further arrests of members of this criminal network. The arrested man, of Spanish nationality, is being charged with three crimes of fraud, and of belonging to a criminal organization.
Source: abc.es
