The operation was led by Cyprus, with the support of Latvia, Portugal and Eurojust<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In a Europol operation, with a significant contribution from Cyprus, a ring of sham marriages was dismantled in our country: 15 arrests have been made by the Police in Cyprus, Latvia and Portugal.<\/p>\n
According to a Police announcement, four of the arrested allegedly organized more than 130 virtual weddings in Cyprus, with the aim of facilitating the illegal stay of third-country nationals in EU countries<\/p>\n
With the aim of dismantling a criminal ring, which allegedly facilitated illegal immigration and residence in the European Union, through the performance of sham marriages, Europol organized an operation, codenamed "Operational Task Force Limassol". The operation was led by Cyprus, with the support of Latvia, Portugal and Eurojust.<\/p>\n
From the information obtained and evaluated in the context of the operation, it emerged that the ring in question, in addition to sham marriages, is allegedly involved in other illegal activities, such as money laundering, conspiracy to commit a felony, conspiracy to stalking, aiding the illegal entry, transit and stay in the territory of the Republic of Cyprus, participation in an illegal organization, participation in and acceptance of the commission of a crime, forgery, circulation of a forged document, fraudulent performance of marriage and forcing victims to perform sham marriages , with the aim of facilitating the illegal stay of third-country nationals in European Union countries.<\/p>\n
The investigations also secured testimony against a number of people allegedly involved in a total of 133 sham marriages, conducted in Cyprus, between women from Portugal and Latvia and men from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.<\/p>\n
In the framework of "OTF Limassol", on January 29, 2024, a day of joint action by the participants in the operation, the authorities of Cyprus, Latvia and Portugal, proceeded to conduct searches in real estates and to arrest a total of 15 persons, to facilitate investigations regarding with the above offences.<\/p>\n
Thirteen detainees were located and arrested in Cyprus, while one person was arrested in Latvia and one in Portugal. Four of those arrested are the main suspects in the case. These are two persons, aged 37 and 24, who were arrested in Cyprus and the two persons, aged 45 and 26, who were arrested abroad, on the basis of European arrest warrants, issued by the Cypriot authorities.<\/p>\n
The 13 persons arrested in Cyprus were brought before the Larnaca District Court, which issued a detention order against them until February 7. For the other two arrested, the procedures for their extradition to Cyprus have already begun.<\/p>\n
From the Cypriot side, the Europol National Unit, the TAE of Nicosia, the TAE of Larnaca, the Aliens and Immigration Service and the Legal Service of the Republic of Cyprus participated in the operation.<\/p>\n
The whole operation was supported by Europol, through the exchange of information, coordination and funding of operational activities and providing direct operational support.<\/p>\n
The TAE of Larnaca and Nicosia and the YAM continue the exams.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The fact described in the text is that a network involved in fake marriages has been dismantled by Europol, with the support of Cyprus, Latvia, Portugal, and Eurojust. 15 arrests have been made in Cyprus, Latvia, and Portugal. The network organized over 130 fake marriages in Cyprus to facilitate the illegal stay of third-country nationals in EU countries. The network is also involved in other illegal activities such as money laundering, conspiracy to commit crimes, facilitation of illegal entry, and trafficking. The operation was named "Operational Task Force Limassol" and was supported by Europol.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2762,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3,379,182,24,610],"class_list":["post-2761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyprus","tag-cyprus","tag-eu","tag-isiyii-ii-ii","tag-limassol","tag-portugal"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n