20 Arrested for Smuggling Moroccan Nationals Into Spain and Charged With Four Sea Deaths
The Spanish National Police, supported by Europol, has dismantled an organised crime group that smuggled Moroccan citizens to Spain through the Strait of Gibraltar.
Over 150 police officers were deployed in Spain in order to successfully carry out this action and arrest the suspects, which were considered extremely dangerous due to their previous criminal history.
According to a press release issued by Europol, the police carried out simultaneous actions in Algeciras, Ceuta, La Linea de la Concepcion, and Madrid, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.
On the action day that took place on March 29, 2021, the police officers searched six houses in different locations. They arrested 20 suspects charged with migrant smuggling as well as four murders connected with the deaths of people who were drowned while crossing a sea.
Europol reported that during this action, the police confiscated three boats, one rubber boat in Ceuta, one fibreglass boat in La Linea as well as a yacht in Algeciras. They also confiscated carry cans and tanks of fuel holding up to 7000 litres, five weapons, and portable devices.
“The criminal network was composed of Spanish and Moroccan nationals. The suspects smuggled Moroccan nationals through the Strait of Gibraltar on different vessels, some of them stolen. The boats were fuelled at sea to avoid suspicions from the authorities,” Europol press release reads, commenting on the four deaths connected to the criminal group.
The migrants, who were mainly young and oftentimes minors, were paying around €2500 each to be smuggled in different countries. The criminal group transported the migrants in potentially fatal conditions without providing any safety measures in case of emergencies.
The collected evidence indicates the link between the shipwreck that took four lives in February and the criminal network.
Throughout this whole action period, Europol helped exchange the information and provided coordination and technical support. Additionally, on the action day, Europol sent an analyst to Spain to enable real-time information exchange.
Previously, the German Federal Police arrested three for smuggling around 80 Middle Eastern migrants to Germany through Turkey.
A similar case was reported back in March as well, where seven Romanian nationals got arrested for smuggling Indian migrants into Romania to reach Germany, Portugal, and Italy later on.
Whereas another 1,569 migrants illegally reached Germany through the routes of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden during the first eight months of 2020.
