Two local law enforcement officers from a municipality in Tenerife have been incarcerated following a court order, on suspicion of misappropriating public funds after their arrest for allegedly retaining fines from foreign tourists that had not been processed.
During the searches conducted as part of the so-called Operation Martyr, “several tens of thousands” of euros, “hundreds” of reports issued to foreign nationals that had not been processed, along with other items linked to the crimes under investigation, were seized, as stated by sources from the Civil Guard.
The inquiry commenced over four months ago when the armed institute became aware of purported irregularities in the actions of these Local Police members, one of whom, according to the newspaper The Day, heads this division in Buenavista del Norte.
After collecting all the evidence, the Civil Guard apprehended the two officers and conducted several searches, during which they acquired “numerous and significant documents” confirming that the alleged criminal behaviour has been occurring for “many years.”
The investigation was conducted by the Organic Unit of Judicial Police (UOPJ) of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Command, with assistance from the Traffic Accident Investigation Group (GIAT) of the Canary Islands Traffic Sector.