Authorities in Spain have dismantled a suspected migrant smuggling ring accused of bringing up to 2,500 migrants from Morocco to the country. The operation resulted in four arrests.
Thousands of Moroccan migrants try to enter Spain using irregular means each year, typically traveling to the Canary Islands using the help of smugglers or trying to enter the Spanish exclaves of Ceuta or Melilla in north Africa.
But this latest smuggling operation, accused of bringing up to 2,500 Moroccans into the EU nation, used a different method, taking migrants to a polar opposite part of the bloc first: Romania.
Read AlsoInternational trafficking ring that brought 3,000 migrants to Italy dismantled
Travel via Romania
According to the preliminary investigation results, Moroccan migrants entered the European Union by being flown to Romania with the help of the criminal group.
It is alleged that the outfit had a "logistics center" in Romania where migrants would be kept hidden from sight until their onward journeys could be finalized.
From Romania, they were then gradually transported to Spain by the criminal group inside vans and trucks, using a land route across the breadth of Europe.
Each person was reportedly charged 3,000 euros for the journey, according to Spain’s Guardia Civil law enforcement agency.
In a video shared from the operation on X, the Guardia Civil shows the seizure of documents and related paperwork from the raids to secure evidence for legal proceedings in the case.
Read AlsoEuropol dismantles major smuggling ring
Four arrests
Four individuals, alleged to be the ringleaders of the smuggling group, were arrested in Cartagena in the southeastern Murcia province and charged with belonging to a criminal organization and facilitating irregular migration.
Their nationalities and backgrounds have not been made public yet.
The gang is accused of having organized around 50 journeys from Morocco to Romania and then onwards to Spain over the past two years.
Authorities believe a total of between 1,000 and 2,500 migrants were brought into Spain this way, as it is estimated that between 20 and 50 migrants took part in each one of the journeys.
The Guardia Civil said in a statement that the raids to dismantle the smuggling ring were conducted with the help of Europol and the EU's external border agency, Frontex.
Read AlsoDo Europe's restrictive migration policies really work? And at what cost?
with AFP