The infamous Nigerian Scammer (those responsable for sending you those “please help me smuggle 202 million euros out of my country” or “you have won the improbable jackpot for which you never entered” emails) have taken a hit as National Police swooped down on a ring in Roquetas del Mar.
28 arrests were made, almost all of them Nigerian or central African. 22 are in jail awaiting justice, the other 6 have already been deported.
According to a police spokesman, the nerve centre was outfitted with letters, falsified official logos and stamps, computers and 70 mobile phones. The Nigerians arrested in the apartment all denied any knowledge of the equipment (they had all popped in for a coffee with a friend who was not there, no doubt) but when one of the phones rang they all lept on top of the phone to stop the police answering it.
The nigerians scammers are believed to have conned at least 63 people out of a million and a half euros. The arrest was part of a wider ranging operation against these sorts of scam (a lot of them are based in Spain), although this particular arrests was after a tipoff from the FBI.
For a couple of websites about the 419 scam:
http://www.419scam.org/
http://www.419eater.com/ (Scambaiting, or the art of annoying the scammers. Quite funny!)