The Civil Guard has seized thousands of kilos of meat products such as sausages and hams, fish and seafood, and thousands of liters of oil within the framework of an international macro-operation against food fraud. The agents have already arrested 13 people and another 87 are being investigated, while more than 2,000 inspections have already been carried out in distribution centers, warehouses, means of transport, ports and airports in the national territory.
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Among the criminal infractions, as explained by the Civil Guard this Wednesday in a statement, there are several ‘modus operandi’ that range from the falsification of documents for the importation of deficient products or those that do not comply with the legal requirements existing in Spain, to the falsification of stamped effects or seals of the containers themselves. In addition, SEPRONA has detected up to 1,294 administrative violations.
More than 2,000 inspections throughout Spain
Numerous operations have been carried out in our territory. The points where these fraudulent products have been found so far are:
- Albacete. SEPRONA has managed to clarify a crime of document falsification and three people and two companies have been investigated. They exported grape derivatives and concentrated grape juice to South Africa, products that were actually invert sugar, which managed to multiply their price. selling. More than a million kilos of this sugar have been immobilized.
- Seville. The Civil Guard is investigating two people for crimes against public health, document falsification and fraud; they sold hams without traceability, without seals and manipulating the expiration date. Specifically, 48 thousand kilos of hams and sausages have been seized, as well as another three thousand pieces.
- Saragossa. The Zaragoza Command is also investigating another criminal group for marketing expired products, specifically these are products of both meat and fish and seafood origin, which did not have the required authorizations and had falsified labels. In total, eight people have been arrested and 48 are under investigation. In addition, 25,000 kilos of food products have been destroyed.
- Badajoz. Here, SEPRONA has proceeded to dismantle an organized group that was dedicated to the fraudulent marketing of olive oil in Andalusia and Extremadura, investigating a total of nine people for crimes against public health and seizing 67,000 liters of oil.
- Alicante and Murcia. The last of the operations in our country has taken place in several livestock farms located in Alicante and Murcia for falsifying documents, against public health, simulation of a crime and reception, for which nine people have been investigated and 305 sheep and cattle have been immobilized. goats.
Arrests and searches across Europe
During the operation, a total of 25 countries have participated, 18 of which are member states of the European Union and seven are European, and between all of them, up to 143 arrest warrants have been issued and 168 searches have been carried out. In addition, a total of 119 people have been reported and six criminal organizations have been dismantled.
All this with the support of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), the Directorate General of Health and Food Safety of the European Commission (DG SANTE), the Directorate General of Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Commission (DG AGRI ) and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), as well as national food regulatory authorities and private sector partners.
