Udine: State Police searches and checks against immigration and illegal stays, dozens of Georgian carers arrested and reported

The State Police, as part of an investigation by the Flying Squad of the Udine Police Headquarters into the illegal stay in the national territory of dozens of Georgian carers, during the searches delegated by the Judicial Authority arrested 19 of them and reported another 17 at liberty.

The investigative activity, coordinated by the Public Prosecutor's Office of Udine, was started in recent months following some reports received from the territorial offices of the Revenue Agencies of the province of Udine, who reported a considerable influx of women, apparently of Georgian nationality, to their offices, who however presented themselves as EU citizens, displaying identity documents, valid for travel abroad, from European Union countries, in particular Slovakia, Poland and Lithuania.

The presentation of these identification documents for the purpose of issuing the relevant Community tax code allowed them, in the immediate future, to access the world of work in the circuit of the agencies of the carers and enjoy legal, fiscal and health benefits, circumventing the rules that regulate the entry and permanence in the national territory of non-EU citizens, by virtue of a real "pass". The foreigners had subsequently moved to different provinces, where they had then, with evident greater ease, found work.

The investigation activity led to the execution of searches delegated throughout the national territory, of which 14 in the province of Udine, 6 in that of Pordenone, the others in the provinces of Bolzano, Venice, Gorizia, Pistoia, Florence, Turin, Lecce, Latina, Varese, Belluno and Prato.

At the end of the operations, 36 false community documents were seized, mostly Slovak, and the same number of tax codes or certificates of issue of the same, 19 women, 6 in Pordenone, 4 in Venice, 3 in Bolzano, 2 in Pistoia, 1 in Varese, 1 in Belluno, 1 in Lecce and 1 in Latina, were arrested in flagrante delicto for the crime of "Possession and manufacture of false identification documents", while another 17 were reported at liberty to the Judicial Authority for the same crime.

Following the checks by the Immigration Offices, if the requirements for regular residence in the national territory still do not exist, all reported foreigners will be expelled. Further activities are underway to identify the individuals who provided them with the false documents.

The investigations allow us to hypothesize the operation of a well-structured organization, capable of manufacturing abroad and then delivering to the buyers, within a few days, for a sum of money of around 600 euros, the much sought-after document, thanks to which the same, having obtained the Italian tax code, circumvent the rules on migratory flows and those that regulate the labor market and access to the services of the National Health Service.

During the operations, in Udine, a 41-year-old Georgian citizen was also tracked down and subsequently taken to prison, having received a prison order and having to serve two years in prison, for a house burglary committed in 2018 in the province of Friuli.

The Udine State Police continues its investigation activities in order to verify that the same modus operandi is not used by criminal groups from other non-EU countries in order to ensure their legitimate presence on the national territory to commit other crimes.