The Territorial Team of the Judicial Police (ETPJ) of Costa Teguise of the Las Palmas Command, within the framework of the "Aircraft Carrier" operation, traveled on July 16 to the province of Almería in order to proceed with the arrest of two people of Spanish nationality, aged 63 and 50, as alleged perpetrators of a crime of falsification of a public document and another continued crime of fraud, by carrying out the issuance of false sports nautical qualifications and selling them through the Internet in breach of current regulations that regulate them, detecting so far 155 qualifications made in the last two and a half years, with the fraudulent benefit reaching 19,300 euros.
The investigation began as a result of a series of inquiries carried out by members of the Maritime Detachment of Fuerteventura (Las Palmas), who informed the ETPJ of Costa Teguise of the existence of a possible fraud and the falsification of a public document related to the issuance of nautical qualifications.
For this reason, the Civil Guard verified the data provided in conjunction with the information collected on a well-known website for buying and selling and classified ads, in which all types of sports nautical qualifications were offered, from Yacht Captain to navigation license (known as titulín) for a price below the market average.
Sale of qualifications through the Internet - Requirements
The qualifications were offered in more than thirty advertisements and on a specific website where different qualifications were offered at a price lower than the average value of the national market, with the Civil Guard requesting the blocking of said page.
Apparently, the issuance of these titles and licenses was done in a nautical school in Almería, registered in the Autonomous Community of Murcia, and so far the existence of at least 155 qualifications issued and made from December 2016 to June of this year has been verified. All of them were sent to victims residing in the province of Las Palmas, Tenerife, Madrid, Ourense and A Coruña, among others, reaching a profit of at least 19,300 euros.
According to current regulations, the issuance of qualifications by nautical schools will be limited to those academies that are authorized by the autonomous community authorized to do so. The navigation license and the skipper titles for basic navigation and recreational craft skipper can be obtained directly. However, to obtain the titles of yacht skipper and yacht captain, it will be necessary to be in possession of the immediately lower title.
Requirements for obtaining the aforementioned qualifications
? Pass the theoretical tests of the exam that is carried out by the Autonomous Communities that have transferred the competence in this matter. Except for the navigation license, which will be taught two hours of theory on board the boat or in a classroom.
? Pass practical and training courses for radio operators and radiocommunications in accordance with the provisions of Annexes II, III and IV of Royal Decree 875/2014, of October 10.
? Pass the psycho-physical examination referred to in article 21 of this royal decree.
? To obtain the complementary attributions, it will be necessary to pass the practices referred to in Annexes V or VI.
? Age 18 years. Minors who have reached 16 years of age at the time of taking the tests may obtain a navigation license
To take the entrance exam to the qualifications, it is not mandatory to attend any school or take any online course, you only have to pass the exam prepared by each autonomous community, adjusting to the content of the subject that is included in Annex II of the R.D.
On the other hand, all practices are mandatory and are face-to-face.
It should be noted that these irregularities are a risk to the integrity of travelers and maritime safety as the qualification is false and the person responsible does not have the basic knowledge to handle the boats and their safety systems, by not obtaining the corresponding qualification through the official channels that accredit their qualification, in addition to causing economic damage to the rest of the legal companies in the sector.
Entry and registration - Arrests
To identify the alleged perpetrators, the ETPJ of Costa Teguise tracked the money transferred for each and every one of the nautical licenses issued in conjunction for the sale and collection of the same, allowing the identification of those investigated in the present.
The exploitation phase of this operation was carried out on July 16, when the Civil Guard of the ETPJ of Costa Teguise in collaboration with the Organic Unit of the Judicial Police of the Almería Command, carried out two entries and searches in a private home in Roquetas de Mar and in the offices of a Sports Nautical School in the aforementioned province, in which they were able to seize more than 860 blank licenses ready for issuance as well as computer equipment and mobile phones used for the commission of the investigated crimes, proceeding to the arrest of two people related to said school.
This investigation is judicialized in the Court of Instruction No. 3 of Arrecife, with the investigation open and not ruling out more arrests.
In any case, if any citizen considers that he has been a victim of this scam, he can contact the Judicial Police Team of Costa Teguise on the phone 928592100.
Control campaign for sports and recreational boats
The Civil Guard reminds that anyone who sails with false qualifications may incur an infraction of the State Ports and Merchant Marine Law, which cites as a serious offense in its article 307.2.h): "Captains, skippers or other maritime personnel exceeding the limits of attributions corresponding to the professional or recreational qualification they possess, or hiring or allowing those who are not in possession of sufficient qualification that legally enables them to do so to perform the functions of captain, skipper or officer in charge of the watch during navigation, as well as exercising such functions without the aforementioned qualification." The fine can be up to 180,000 euros.
In addition, at this time surveillance is increased because the control and inspection campaign for sports and recreational boats has been in force from June 18 to September 18. In it, the Civil Guard promotes and improves the safety of users of this type of boats and bathers.
One of the measures of this campaign is the control of navigability certificates, proof of payment of the current insurance premium and the pilot's qualification required according to the characteristics of the boat, as well as verifying that this type of boats and jet skis carry out their activity in the spaces enabled for it.
