Overall, a total of 25 people have been placed under investigation. They include eight suspects who have been served an arrest warrant or an order to report to judicial authorities as part of the probe coordinated by the State Attorney's Office in the main city of the Emilia Romagna region.

The suspects face charges of criminal association to aid and abet illegal immigration.

Alleged tariff ranged between 3,000 and 10,000 euros

The probe, coordinated by DDA- anti-mafia investigators, involves a total of 25 people. Police discovered that the group used a fake fiscal assistance centre (CAF) to present hundreds of requests to the public administration, including false documents and data, enabling foreign citizens to enter Italy in exchange for money, according to investigative sources.

The tariff per person ranged between 3,000 and 10,000 euros, depending on the country of provenance of migrants (Pakistan, Bangladesh or generally North African countries).

Overall, investigators discovered some 500 fraudolent applications for permits in the provinces of Bologna, Foggia, in Puglia, and Milan, in Lombardy.

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Probe kicked off in 2022, hundreds of fake documents

The investigation kicked off in 2022 after an employer reported an alleged fraud to judicial authorities. The employer said he had asked a multi-service agency in Imola, near Bologna, to handle procedures to hire seasonal workers with no result, although he had paid for the service.

Investigators subsequently uncovered an alleged criminal scheme managed by the agency, which operated like a CAF. The agency had two offices in Imola and had opened another two, one in the town of Massalombarda (Ravenna) and another in Ancona, in the Marche region.

Sources at Bologna's central police department said the criminal scheme allowed members to bypass the public administration's controls by exploiting the high number of applications handled by overworked Prefectures in Bologna, Milan, Salerno and Foggia and the legal mechanism of 'tacit consent' in place at the time regarding the approval of applications.

Hundreds of applications filed with fake documents, white papers, as well as fraudulent business owners or employers who were unaware of the scam, were discovered by police. Suspected members of the organization include Italian and foreign citizens who found clients or acted as owners of fake businesses, investigative sources said.

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