'Quack' doctor, 52, who charged British patients up to £20,000 for cancer and heart treatments including blood infusions in Spain is arrested
A 'quack' doctor who is said to have charged British patients up to £20,000 a time has been arrested in Spain.
The 52-year-old Pakistani is accused of using a rented villa near Valencia as an unlicensed clinic to treat people who had flown from the UK for treatments including blood infusions after being diagnosed with arthritis, cancer and heart problems.
Police say the aides he employed as nursing assistants were in reality 'exploited' agricultural workers he paid a pittance for 12-hour days on a farm he owned in the same area.
The alleged fake medic, arrested in the municipality of Picassent, a 25-minute drive south-west of Valencia, has not been named.
A 52-year-old Pakistani doctor who allegedly charged British patients up to £20,000 a time has been arrested in Spain. Pictured: Picassent town in Spain, near to where the clinic was located
A spokesman for the Civil Guard in Valencia, which made the arrest said: 'Officers have dismantled an unlicensed medical clinic and freed eight people who were suffering labour exploitation.
'The detainee is a 52-year-old man from Pakistan and alleged author of a range of offences including crimes against the rights of workers, professional intrusion, fraud and money laundering.
'The workers harvested products the arrested man sold through a UK website.'
The spokesman continued: 'Patients who went to the unlicensed clinic had joint pain and even heart problems or cancer.
'They received different types of medical treatment, including blood transfusions.
'Most came from Britain and flew to Spain solely for treatment, paying between £10,000 and £20,000 a time.'
The doctor is accused of using a rented villa near Valencia as an unlicensed clinic to treat people who had flown from the UK for treatments including blood infusions after being diagnosed with arthritis, cancer and heart problems. Pictured: Drugs found at the unlicensed clinic
Revealing the alarm was raised by one of the alleged quack medic's workers, the force added in a statement: 'The person who filed a formal complaint, as well as doing farm work, was asked at times to act as a nursing assistant by the detainee despite having no qualifications.
'That work took place at the rented villa being in Picassent.'
Hundreds of unlicensed dietary and nutritional supplements were reportedly seized at the property along with silver and gold worth more than £400,000.
Of the 'slave labour' farmhands the fake doctor allegedly employed, the force said: 'They lived together in very unhealthy conditions in a building on the farm used as a storage unit infested with rats and insects.
'They weren't allowed to leave the premises and were under constant watch from CCTV cameras inside the building.
'They were made to work between 11 and 12 hours daily with no rest days. One of the workers was paid just £670 a month with £180 deducted for accommodation.