The Spanish Civil Guard has once again participated in the Opson operation, coordinated by Interpol and Europol and with the participation of police forces from 60 countries. The main objective set by the European Commission has been the detection of fraud in organic products.
Thanks to this macro-operation, it has been possible to uncover the fraud of a company based in Granada, which marketed cucumbers from conventional plantations passing them off as organic, selling them at twice their actual price. 80% of these were destined for various European markets.
The company is involved in the distribution of cucumbers, peppers and zucchini, as well as tomatoes to a lower extent; all supposedly organic. The company was certified as such and, in fact, it assured that it didn't have a distribution line for conventional vegetables.
However, suspicions were raised when the agents detected the entry and exit of producers from the area with vegetables, some of whom didn't grow their crops organically.
A total of 2,534 inspections have been carried out by the Civil Guard to various establishments in the food sector. 1,525 administrative sanctions have been opened in the framework of this operation, and 35 people have either been arrested or given criminal charges, nine of them for fraud in organic products.
Source: sevilla.abc.es