La Catanzaro State Police has executed a precautionary custody order against 7 people held responsible for belonging to a criminal association aimed at aiding illegal immigration through the organization of marriages of convenience and the production of further false documentation, and 4 people, recipients of a second precautionary order deemed to be seriously suspected of the crime of aiding and exploitation of prostitution.
The investigations of the policemen of the mobile team started after the reporting of some suspicious practices by the Immigration Office of the Police Headquarters, which reported the use of certifications that reported the same protocol and therefore considered false.
The start of environmental and telephone interceptions therefore revealed the existence of a real organized structure, which among the various artifices used for the issue of residence permits, mainly in favor of Chinese citizens, it also resorted to the combination of marriages or fictitious cohabitations with Italian citizens, which lent themselves for the purpose in exchange for sums of money that ranged between 1000 and 2000 euros.
The top of the partnership is made up of two Italian spouses and a Chinese citizen.
In particular, the latter recruited her compatriots, who in the absence of other legitimate requirements, were interested in renewing the residence permit through this fraudulent mechanism, while the spouses of Italian nationality, her close collaborators, took care of identifying the willing subjects to formalize marriage or cohabitation with subjects actually unknown, behind the promise of excellent and easy earnings.
The promoters of this illegal activity, in addition to logistical assistance, also took care of organizing the wedding and thus guaranteeing foreign citizens all the benefits deriving from it, drawing substantial profits from it.
In the course of the investigation, the figure of a policeman on duty at the Police Headquarters of Catanzaro also emerged, for whom the following scrupulous investigative investigations revealed the dedication to the management and exploitation of a prostitution round of women of different nationality, to which customers were procured and made available accommodation facilities or apartments, with the involvement of other suspects, in making available properties used for prostitution or in the facilitation and exploitation of prostitution.