Italian security forces on March 30 carried out an operation to dismantle an organization based in the northern city of Lodi allegedly favoring illegal immigration. The organization is accused of using fake businesses to release stay permits for work, judicial sources said. Two Egyptian citizens were arrested as part of the operation.
Italian authorities on March 30 dismantled in the Lombard city of Lodi an organization that allegedly favored illegal immigration.
Investigators carried out a total of nine precautionary measures including the preventive custody of two Egyptian nationals regularly residing in Italy and a one-year professional suspension of an accountant from Cremona.
The detained suspects are aged 39 and 46, according to local authorities.
Companies for fake documents
The investigation kicked off in 2018 after State welfare agency INPS in Lodi reported to authorities the fact that two construction companies owned by Egyptian citizens were inactive.
The companies, however, were registered as having a number of employees, all Egyptian citizens. The businesses gave them paychecks thanks to which their alleged employees obtained stay permits.
Investigators believe the companies only existed on paper to produce the documentation to illicitly obtain stay permits. This service was mainly used by citizens who lived and worked in France, investigators said.
Once they obtained a stay permit in Italy, allegedly paying €2,000 to the organization for each permit, they were able to work and live in the European Union, the sources explained.
A total of 74 people have been placed under investigation.