IN MADRID – Gangs of squatters from Russia, among other things, attack the empty Spanish country houses of Ukrainians stuck at home because of the war. I learned.
Javi, who did not want his last name to be used for security reasons, runs Desokupa2, a company that evicts squatters from country houses. He said organized groups from Russia and other countries were attacking British and Belgian holiday homes on the Costa Blanca in eastern Spain.
Known as pay off In Spain, squatters change locks and illegally “sell” or “rent” property to other families, earning thousands of pounds a month.
Owners often hire private companies such as Desokupa2 to get rid of these unwanted guests as it is faster than going to court, which can take months if not years.
Desokupa2’s Javi said squatters are targeting vacation homes and land owned by families who say they can’t afford mortgages.
“They are targeting houses owned by Ukrainians because they are not here because of the war,” he said. I.
“Other times they choose vacant holiday homes for Britons who aren’t here and Belgians who also have a lot of houses in the area. The gangs come from Russia and other countries.”
Desokupa2 negotiates with the squatters to let them go. Sometimes they can be persuaded to leave in a day, but in other cases it can take up to a month. Xavi said his company never uses force to evict squatters.
“We don’t want to get into dangerous situations. There are bad people who do this,” he said.
Around 30 percent of the cases dealt with by Desokupa2 involve organized gangs, Xavi said, with the rest involving people who say they can no longer afford mortgages.
“They say they’re in debt and can’t pay their mortgage, but that’s often not the case. One day we arrived and found in the driveway a BMW or otherwise a chef working at the best restaurant in Alicante,” he added.
The company charges between €1,500 (£1,328) and €3,000 (£2,656) to remove squatters from premises.
This topic does not allow the Spanish authorities to do anything. A police investigation into a Colombian squatter gang in Barcelona found they used children to avoid being evicted from their homes.
The Mossos d’Esquadra spokesman said banks and investment funds also paid the Colombian gang to retake their homes instead of fighting their way through the courts, a spokesman for the Catalan regional police said.
Over the course of four months, the gang reportedly attacked dozens of vacant houses in Barcelona and Hospitalet, a city outside the Catalan capital.
He was earning around €24,000 (£21,310) a month, police said, “selling” or “renting out” properties or charging financial institutions to repossess property.
“This gang used children to keep them from being kicked out of the houses they occupied,” a spokesman for Mossos d’Esquadra said.
Die Polizei sagte, die Bande habe eine Preisliste für die Anmietung von Zimmern für etwa 200 € (177 £) bis 300 € (265 £) bis hin zu einer ganzen Wohnung für zwischen 500 € (443 £) und 900 € (795 £) per month.
They “sold” apartments to private individuals for prices ranging from €4,000 (£3,543) to €5,000 (£4,433), but when doing business with banks or mutual funds, the price rose to €6,000 (£5,302) and €8,000 (£7,070). pounds). respectively. . .
A person named Plinio S. and another suspect are under investigation for embezzlement, damage, utility fraud, money counterfeiting and organized crime.
They were arrested, but charges could follow much later, closer to the trial, as is customary in Spain.
Source: I News
I am Michael Melvin, an experienced news writer with a passion for uncovering stories and bringing them to the public. I have been working in the news industry for over five years now, and my work has been published on multiple websites. As an author at 24 News Reporters, I cover world section of current events stories that are both informative and captivating to read.