Forty-three drivers have been implicated by the Elche Police Station in an investigation uncovered in Crevillent and Santomera last November, although it was not made public until December, into a scheme to provide false ITV documentation to vehicles that did not meet safety requirements. They paid between 250 and 400 euros for the mandatory V-19 sticker, the badge that must be displayed on the car, so that they avoided workshop repairs.
Leading the organization was a Moroccan resident in Crevillent who was in collusion not only with the ITV station in Santomera, but also with second-hand vehicle sales companies and many workshops.
On Monday the Elche Police Station confirmed that 13 people were arrested, a number which is added to the 43 that it has been possible to identify from documents obtained during the searches carried out four months ago. In total 56 people are now involved in the fraud which is being led by a magistrate of an Investigative Court in Elche.
Among those involved are Spaniards, Moroccans, Algerians, French, Senegalese, and Palestinians between the ages of 22 and 67. ” With full knowledge of the modus operandi, they have taken the opportunity to fraudulently obtain their Technical Vehicle Inspection (ITV) reports as well as the V-19 badges that they currently display on their vehicles, for which they have committed a crime of documentary falsification”, explained in a statement.
The ringleader and subsequently the people who used the services, with the connivance of a number of ITV station staff, fraudulently obtained inspection reports, “even for vehicles that had serious failures.”
According to the National Police, more than 5,000 vehicles from all over the country could have been involved in the fraud.
