The Judicial Police today arrested 17 people involved in the theft State funds from the Institute of Social Security. The suspicion is that those arrested changed the names on social security cheques and paid the money into accounts over which they had control.
The police arrested 11 men and 6 women, suspected of stealing hundreds of thousands of euros between them.
The search operations on Tuesday morning, were a result of a long investigation after a complaint was lodged by the Institute of Social Security about a year ago.
Those arrested, aged between 22 and 69, were charged with "the continuing practice of theft, misuse of correspondence, falsification of documents and money laundering."
Some 120 police officers were involved, and 27 search warrants were acted on, of which 22 were at the suspect's' homes. According to the police, computers, mobile phones and material used to falsify documents were seized as well as a small amount of cocaine, precision scales and substance often used to cut drugs.
The police investigation was aimed at "a criminal association that was dedicated to the theft of Caixa Geral de Depósitos cheques in the name of the Institute of Social Security and made out to various beneficiaries."
Apparently, the fraud had started with the theft of cheques, which were handed over to counterfeiters who "modified parts of the documents" in order to change the name of the beneficiary.
These cheques were then deposited and the suspects appropriated those amounts either through withdrawals from ATMs or, using the money to purchase foreign currency which was then reconverted into euros.
