A criminal gang looted and appropriated property from older adults who died with no known heirs in Spain

A large criminal network discovered Spain’s Guardia Civil dismantling a gang dedicated to appropriating the property and money of older adults, almost always foreigners, who died with no known heirs.

The organization described as criminal moved freely during the terrible and painful peaks of the covid-19 pandemic, which wiped out the lives of thousands of grandparents.

Everything is exposed with the progress of the Operation Black Hand.

Criminal action in pandemic

They took advantage of the increase in deaths during the pandemic to transfer property that did not belong to them, reports El País.

The investigation found that “they seized all kinds of valuables, such as apartments, and then used them for their business, for example by renting them out to launder money or evade taxes.”

The Guardia Civil has identified 22 expropriations of estates, but the investigation is still ongoing.

In other words, they were trying to take over the property of those twenty victims.

Who were in the network

Last October’s investigative process began with the first arrests.

The Spanish media reported on Tuesday, March 28, 2023 that “eight of its members have been arrested, including two Basque businessmen, two workers of a funeral home in Alicante, another of a nursing home and a former official of a town hall in the same province with access to the commercial register”.

Five months later, “detectives have verified that the gang was still renting goods that had been recovered as early as March 15.”

Operation Black Hand

In May 2021, Operation Black Hand was deployed in Benissa, Alicante.

They explain that “agents had sealed a house after the owner’s death until they could find an heir.”

A short time later, they learned that “the police seal had been removed and several valuables had been stolen from inside. They also learned that the property had been renovated and was being offered on a holiday rental platform.”

The first to die were “two workers of a funeral home in a town in the same region, who “stole jewelry from the deceased that was not claimed by relatives, passed information to rob their homes and obtained their bank codes,” says the Guardia Civil. according to El País.

That early fear led to the “big fish.”

At the moment, two brothers from Bilbao – a 63-year-old woman with knowledge of the law and a 54-year-old man who worked as an insurance broker – are identified as leaders of the criminal group.

“In addition to the network of companies that had their name, the gang leaders used a construction company, another insurance company, a mechanical workshop in Bilbao, two hotels in the provinces of Murcia and Valencia, a restaurant in Dénia (Alicante) and two companies in Ireland and Malta to squeeze as much money as possible out of the houses they took over from the deceased without heirs through tax evasion.

The woman owned at least 12 businesses, including two brokerage firms and four realtors, and an insurance brokerage in her brother’s case, authorities explained.

“They even took over a cultural association in Bilbao” in which they registered their victims to simulate donations and non-payment of fees.

“Round” cases with deceased elderly people

These people, where the vast majority saw pain, with every death attributed to covid-19, defied everything to bet on a “gold mine”, which was eventually discovered.

Upon learning of the death of an old man, with no relatives, let alone “heirs” nearby, the network was activated. His thing was to have the properties and the shortcuts were diverse.

Sometimes “they forged commercial contracts to make the deceased guarantors of their companies to keep their assets for patrimonial responsibility. In other cases, the former commercial registry officer advised them and amended the land register to register the properties in their name.

They said nothing: “There were houses in which they used the usucapion process – also called acquisition reception -. It consists in the long-term use of the properties and the payment of their taxes and supplies in order to take possession of them after a period determined by law”.

All members fulfilled their roles: “the nursing home worker detained in this operation “was given documentation and bank codes of the victims,” ​​says the armed institute, “and transferred more than 112,000 euros from two non-year-olds residents of Spain with German and Swiss nationality to the bank accounts of the criminal group”.

Of the total of 22 grandparents who died during the pandemic and benefited from, it is known today that they are Spanish (2), French (5), Swiss (4), German (8) and Belgian, British and Finnish (1 ) nationalities. ).

The detainees were charged with criminal organization, theft, fraud, document forgery, embezzlement, money laundering, usurpation of marital status and illegal possession of weapons.

The investigating judge 2 of Dénia ordered entry to prison without bail for the Basque businesswoman and precautions for the rest.

With the recent movement detected less than 15 days ago, Operation Mano Negra showed its claw and they have already made some statements. They do not rule out new arrests.