Civil Guard arrested Eleven individuals who allegedly founded an organization with two branches dedicated to international distribution in Spain and Italy olive oil doped. 16 oil tanks and more than 5,200 liters of the product prepared for sale were immobilized.
In the operation carried out in coordination with the Carabinieri and Europol, 8 searches were carried out in the cooperatives in the provinces. real city, jaen And Kordova.
As reported in the statement, the Civil Guard Seprona carried out inspections A truck carrying olive oil in Manzanares (Real city) and detected a number of anomalies. As a result of this case, the Organic Unit of the Judicial Police launched operation ‘Omegabad’ and agents confirmed the existence of an organization with two branches, one Spanish and the other Italian, which allegedly distributed adulterated olive oil internationally.
In Spain, they used a company associated with the process of acquiring lower category oils to change the category of cloudy oils and convert them into virgin and extra virgin oils by falsifying documents in order to market them.
According to the Civil GuardThey mixed the cloudy oils, which are by-products of olive oil, with the best quality olive oil. to obtain sufficient fat and erythrodiol parameters to allow its trading. They also prevented product traceability by not registering their company’s olive oil.
In Italy, two companies have brought together oils from most of the countries involved in the olive oil scene; The majority enter the European Union via Portugal and follow the same fraud and manipulation procedures as in Spain.
Moreoverused a strong transnational business structure through traders in major oil-producing countries such as Spain, which lack traceability controls, making adulteration easier.
The Italian Armade Carabinieri and Europol, who also participated in the inspections during the investigation, cooperated. Eight searches were carried out simultaneously in Spain and Italy and 11 people were detained. Five of the inspections were carried out at oil bottling plants and warehouses in the provinces of Ciudad Real, Jaén and Córdoba.
Among all the records frozen 16 oil tanks And More than 5,200 liters of adulterated olive oil are ready for sale to the public. More than 91,000 euros in cash were seized, four luxury vehicles and several bank accounts were blocked.