The Civil Guard has arrested 17 employees of a San Javier Vehicle Technical Inspection station as the alleged perpetrators of more than 1,000 crimes of false documentation, 1,800 crimes of falsification of computer records and belonging to a criminal organization.

On arriving at the ITV station, the Guardia Civil confiscated four computer storage devices, corresponding to the different inspection lines, and the station’s own computer server, as well as all relevant documentation and a vehicle.

This impounded car was used as a “stand in vehicle”, replacing those vehicles that were below the test standards required to pass braking and gas tests.

17 arrests at San Javier ITV Centre

The Brake Meter operation began last year, when civil guards from the Traffic Analysis and Investigation Group (GIAT) of the Traffic Sector of the Civil Guard of Murcia became aware of possible fraudulent practices related to the technical inspection of vehicles.

A few days before carrying out the police search in the ITV Station facilities, all of its computer files were deleted. However, practically all of the deleted files, a total of 60,588, and of the modified files, a total of 1,797, have been recovered using computer forensic techniques.

To this expert report, the Civil Guard has added their own detailed study of more than 30,000 files and inspection reports. The documentation includes a high number of vehicles that undertook two technical inspections on the same day, the first with an unfavourable result and the second with a pass result, clearly an insufficient amount of time to correct the defects.

The detainees, the effects seized, the vehicle seized, and all of the confiscated date have been made available to the Investigating Court number 3 of San Javier.