Airport bribes

[fifi]

Guardia Civil face jail

A total of ten Guardia Civil officers at Gran Canaria airport are to be prosecuted for allegedly running an extortion racket to take money from passengers arriving from African cities.


The officers targeted Africans arriving at the airport

04.11.2014 - According to court sources, the case dates back to 2008 when one passenger contacted police to say he had been forced to pay several thousand euros in the airport`s customs hall so that officers would, “Look the other way” and not force him to declare â,¬30,000 he had brought with him for a business deal.  The complaint prompted an investigation which revealed that several officers were deliberately targeting the African flights and searching passengers for money, offering them the chance not to record the amount they were carrying in return for a generous backhander.  In other cases they are said to have confiscated the cash directly and kept it for themselves.  A secret camera installed by police without the Guardia Civil officers` knowledge captured crucial evidence of the extortion.  Phone taps ordered as part of the investigation will also be produced in court when the ten go on trial.  If convicted, they face sentences of up to 18 years in jail. 

Island Connections article.

[Ivemovedon]

They'll have to open a new jail if this carries on ...exclusively for ex Guardia Civil.

[fifi]

  Yes indeed. I do love it when the crooked Police get nabbed.

[admin]

I used to live in the UAE and they had constant problems with police corruption.

Overnight they solved most of it by doubling their wages !

It helps being an oil rich country which of course this isn't (...yet?).