The Provincial Court of Granada has handed down prison sentences of up to two years to 14 residents of Motril and Torrenueva Costa who admitted running a passport-swap racket between 2019 and 2020. The network bought Spanish residence permits from look-alike compatriots and shuttled the documents to Morocco, where would-be migrants paid €14,000–€20,000 to enter Spain posing as the legitimate holder.
Prosecutors detailed how ring leaders physically accompanied clients through ferry and airport controls, reclaiming the paperwork once inside Spanish territory so it could be reused. Although the defendants were charged with facilitating only the entries that investigators could prove, the court acknowledged “numerous unidentified beneficiaries” of the scheme.
![Granada court jails 14-member passport-swap gang that smuggled Moroccans into Spain]()
Document fraud has become a growing headache for Spain’s border authorities since the introduction this year of the updated Immigration Regulation (RELOEX), which makes legal residence easier to maintain but also raises the resale value of genuine permits. The Interior Ministry’s specialised forged-documents unit says interceptions of genuine but fraudulently used IDs at ports of Algeciras and Almería are up 29 % year-to-date.
For corporate mobility teams, the ruling is a timely signal that Spanish courts are willing to impose custodial sentences even when defendants cooperate. Companies should remind travelling employees—particularly dual nationals—never to lend passports or residence cards, as doing so can expose them to criminal liability under Spain’s Aliens Act.
Prosecutors detailed how ring leaders physically accompanied clients through ferry and airport controls, reclaiming the paperwork once inside Spanish territory so it could be reused. Although the defendants were charged with facilitating only the entries that investigators could prove, the court acknowledged “numerous unidentified beneficiaries” of the scheme.
Document fraud has become a growing headache for Spain’s border authorities since the introduction this year of the updated Immigration Regulation (RELOEX), which makes legal residence easier to maintain but also raises the resale value of genuine permits. The Interior Ministry’s specialised forged-documents unit says interceptions of genuine but fraudulently used IDs at ports of Algeciras and Almería are up 29 % year-to-date.
For corporate mobility teams, the ruling is a timely signal that Spanish courts are willing to impose custodial sentences even when defendants cooperate. Companies should remind travelling employees—particularly dual nationals—never to lend passports or residence cards, as doing so can expose them to criminal liability under Spain’s Aliens Act.
