Como: organized events in Brazil aimed at bringing Brazilian citizens to Italy with the aim of obtaining Italian citizenship. Two women arrested.

This morning, following a complex investigative activity coordinated by the Public Prosecutor's Office at the Court of Como, the investigators of the Como Police Headquarters Flying Squad, with the assistance of personnel from the Local Police "Terre di Frontiera", have carried out a precautionary custody order in prison and an application order for house arrest against a woman of Brazilian origins, owner of an intermediation agency and a registry officer serving in this province.

Specifically, investigative activities, also conducted with the aid of technical activities telephone and environmental interception, started from the monitoring of an anomalous flow of Brazilian citizens applying for Italian citizenship in the municipality of Uggiate Trevano (CO) and allowed us to document numerous false deeds in relation to the investigations required by the Registry Officer regarding the requests for actual residence and habitual residence in Italy of over 170 Brazilian citizensapplicants for Italian citizenship by jure sanguinis. Residency on the territory of the State is in fact an essential requirement for obtaining the benefit.

The investigations then documented her as the owner of the brokerage agency organized events in Brazil aimed at bringing Brazilian citizens to Italy with the sole purpose of allowing them to obtain citizenship, arranging accommodation for them, transfers from airports and fictitious declarations of hospitality which allowed the Registry Officer to register the residences without carrying out the necessary checks required by law and conclude the procedural process in exceptionally short times, even of a few days . In some phases of the activity, apartments were found with 74, 60 and 37 people living in them over a period of 6 months, with the paradox of the presence of dozens and dozens of people in just 90 square metres.

The intermediation activity earned the arrested woman a fee of over €3.500,00 for each foreigner.

The women were arrested and, respectively, the mediator associated with the local prison while the municipal employee was subjected to house arrest pending verification of the investigative findings that emerged during the trial.

During the execution, the premises of the registry offices of the municipalities of Cucciago (Como), Blevio (Como) and Rodero (Como) were also searched and numerous files relating to the citizenships iure sanguinis of Brazilian citizens resident in those municipalities were seized.