A new sports and health soap opera opened on Thursday, and Australian tennis player Alex de Minaur is one of those implicated.
Spanish police this week completed the second phase of Operation Jenner, launched in January against the Spanish branch of an organization that provided falsified health passes and PCR tests through instant messaging apps.
The false documents were provided by an organization whose leaders are in France.
According to Spanish police sources interviewed by AFP, in addition to De Minaur, other sportsmen and public figures were on the list of possible buyers of these fake health passes.
The 32nd player in the world, who turns 23 on Thursday, had reached the knockout stages of the Australian Open in January.
Vaccination was compulsory to play this tournament, which had notably earned world number Novak Djokovic to be excluded and expelled from the country.
Variable prices according to the resources of the customers
In total, 11 people were arrested for "forgery or use of forgery" and "2,200 people are targeted for having obtained their health pass fraudulently", according to the Spanish police who published a press release.
This network charged 50 euros for the false PCR test.
To obtain a fake health pass, customers had two options: either pay "about 200 euros" and simply obtain the "fraudulent document", or, for customers with "higher purchasing power", "pay 1,000 euros and be registered on the list of individuals with a complete vaccination schedule.
According to the Spanish police, to access this database, the network would have convinced a person working in the medical sector and the investigation also targets a possible theft of access codes to this list.
Payments were made by cryptocurrencies “via accounts opened in third countries”.
Once the payment was received, customers obtained a QR code that showed a fake complete vaccination schedule.
“They could then obtain the health pass within two days, in which they were registered as having received two or three doses of vaccine”, detailed the Spanish police.
The police operation is still ongoing and the last phase will focus on "the arrest of the main members of the organization".
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Australian Open
Australia
Spain
Vaccination pass
Coronavirus
Covid-19
Sport
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