The Spanish authorities announced on Saturday (December 2) that they had been investigating a gang suspected of smuggling migrants from Algeria to Spain and then drugs from the south of Spain back to Algeria.

Seven suspects have been arrested after an inquiry that lasted almost a year, reported the Spanish daily newspaper El Paìs. The statement from the Spanish Civil Guard (One of Spain's two police forces), said that the seven arrested were suspected to have been part of the network that brought the migrants in and took the drugs back.

According to police forces, the group is thought to have been smuggling ecstasy and methamphetamine from southern Spain and then got into smuggling migrants so as not to have empty boats on one leg of the trip. They are thought to have charged between €2,000 and €4,000 per head for the journey north across the Mediterranean.

'Taxi boats'

The boats used, say the authorities, were semi-rigid inflatable dinghies, dubbed "taxi boats" with very strong motors. These boats are often used by drug traffickers, noted the press release. The motors on the boats were powerful, between 150 and 200 horsepower, so they were able to make the journey between the coast of Algeria and the southern coast of Spain in about five hours.

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According to the Spanish authorities, the smuggling network was very well organized. Some people were responsible for logistics, some had to provide fuel for the boats, or places to hide the boats when they arrived in Spain. In Algeria, suspected members of the gang are thought to have recruited people who hoped to reach Europe and collected money for them for their journeys.

Almost 70 kilos of methamphetamines

The inquiry into this criminal network began in January 2023. The police began by following an Algerian suspected of being part of the gang. A few months later, by March, police were able to gather more information after a boat failed near a beach in the province of Alicante, in Andalusia. This prompted investigators to put that area under surveillance to discover what kinds of activities were coming in and out of the area.

By October 12, their surveillance found that another of the so-called "taxi boats" suffered engine trouble off the coast of Almeria. As it was trying to reach the shore, the boat was intercepted by a patrol from the Civil Guard and 48 kilograms of methamphetamine was found on board.

Algerian nationals arrested

The captain of the boat and four other people were arrested. Later, two more individuals were arrested, all of them Algerian nationals.

In total, 68 kilograms of methamphetamine were seized by the investigators during various raids across Alicante. In total, writes the news site Schengenvisainfo, five searches were carried out, four in homes and one in a warehouse. The drugs, estimate investigators, would have a street value of around €3 million. Police also seized two semi-rigid dinghies used for the trade, two vehicles and about €9,000 in cash, as well as several mobile telephones.

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