Europol has announced the arrest of 19 suspected traffickers as part of an investigation led by the Spanish National Police. The EU agency said that the organized crime group was responsible for facilitating the secondary movements of at least 550 migrants from Spain to Germany and Norway.
Europol's announcement came on August 13 but referred to a series of coordinated raids which actually took place on June 20. In total, 16 Syrian and three Moroccan nationals were arrested as part of the raids, during which seven locations in Spain were reportedly searched, while multiple assets belonging to the smuggling network were seized — including five vehicles, multiple mobile phones and data storage devices, and about €10,000 in cash.
The suspected traffickers arrested stand accused of moving mainly Syrian nationals via Sudan, Libya, Tunis and Algeria to Spain and on to Germany and Norway.
The raids also involved operatives from the German Federal Police, and were supported behind the scenes by Europol. Europol said it was primarily in charge of facilitating "the exchange of information, and provided operational coordination and analytical support," for both Spanish and German officials working on the case, and also deployed one of its analysts to Spain to help investigators in the field during the action day.
Earlier in 2023, the Spanish National Police had already located a number of other suspected smugglers who were part of this network, which resulted in 15 arrests. That part of the group is now considered to be largely dismantled but is alleged to form an extension of a larger migrant smuggling network active across Asia, Africa and Europe.
Read more: European police arrest 'highly dangerous' migrant smugglers
€20,000 for clandestine journeys across several countries
Spanish authorities said they had initiated their investigation into the criminal group in June 2022 already, during which they ascertained that the smugglers would pick migrants up on the coasts of Almeria and Murcia and take them to seven properties in Toledo and Cuenca, situated south of the capital Madrid.
The suspects "kept these locations in unsanitary conditions, putting migrants' health at risk from their clandestine entry into Spain until their departure towards their final destination via land or air," Europol said in a press release.
Europol added that the suspects arrested during the operations on June 20 arranged flights for more than 550 Syrian migrants to Germany and Norway from Madrid Barajas airport, charging more than €20,000 per person from beginning to end.
The network is suspected to have been in operation since 2017, and is suspected of using the informal "hawala" banking network to launder money.
Read more: Suspected migrant smuggling network across the EU dismantled