A Salobreña man has been arrested, accused of seven counts of insurance fraud and four other counts of fraud, all related to insurance claims made during 2013.

The 37-year-old man had allegedly claimed against two insurance companies for the supposed theft of 26,000 euros of phytosanitary products (i.e., insecticides, etc).

According to his insurance claims, individuals had systematically raided his plastic greenhouses in Los Guájares, Molvízar, Vélez de Benaudalla and Salobreña. In these raids ‘thieves’ had made off with phytosanitary products and agricultural machinery valued at 42,500 euros.

To justify the existence of the stolen chemicals he submitted pro-forma invoices for supplies. The suppliers had agreed to send him these invoices because he had said he needed them to apply for a bank loan in order to purchase them.

It was the Guardia Civil post in Salobreña that began the investigation back in July when he reported that somebody had forced entry into one of this store sheds belonging to a greenhouse in Salobreña. He had reported the theft of machinery, a great quantity of plastic and insecticides/fertilizers.

The police, however, discovered that not only had he never actually purchased the said stolen material, but that this was also the case in the other thefts that he had reported during 2013.

Furthermore, the Guardia Civil discovered that a heavy-duty pump and an electricity generator that he had reported as stolen were in fact in his cortijo.

(News: Salobrena, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)