Mossos d'Esquadra, agents from Catalunya's autonomous police force, have arrested a 63-year-old man in Barcelona for carrying out cosmetic surgery without the necessary qualifications and in sanitary conditions described as 'deplorable'.

Juan P.L. was allegedly using 'veterinary equipment' to carry out surgery in his own apartment in the Raval district of the city has been remanded into custody charged with practising a profession without proper qualifications and contravening public health laws.

According to the police, the apartment being used was 'small and dirty' with no proper facilities for the surgical interventions being performed there and, moreover, also inhabited by three dogs, a cat and a parrot.

Juan P.L was known to have been injecting a liquid silicone, of a type not meant to be injected, into his patients' breasts or buttocks by means of veterinary syringes, implying a considerable health risk for those being treated there.

In addition, the syringes were being re-used and there was no evidence of any sterilising equipment on the premises, implying an extremely high risk of infection or cross-contamination between patients.
 
The man was charging between 200 and 500 euros to carry out the procedures, considerably less than the going rate in Spain, which explains why he had a constant stream of patients from all over the country.

Despite this, the police found no patient records, nor invoices nor receipts to show how many women had been operated on fraudulently by this man.

It was a doctor in the Basque Country, whose patient admitted to having had a procedure involving the injection of liquid silicone, who alerted the authorities, but investigations have been hampered by the fact that the only contact information available for the man was a pre-pay mobile telephone number, not registered to anyone.