Two gangs busted for smuggling migrants between Morocco and Canary Islands

The leaders of the gangs are allegedly responsible for the arrival of 204 Moroccan migrants in six small boats off the coasts of Lanzarote  and Fuerteventura.

Footage of the bust of the two criminal gangs was shared on Twitter by the Spanish National Police:

“Two criminal organisations dedicated to smuggling migrants between #Morocco and the #CanaryIslands have been dismantled.”

“They charged each migrant €3,000, for which profits are estimated at €600,000.”

“8 people have been arrested in #LasPalmas (4), #Murcia (2), #Cádiz (1) and #Vizcaya (1).”

🚩Desarticuladas 2 organizaciones criminales dedicadas al tráfico de migrantes entre #Marruecos y las #IslasCanarias

Cobraban a cada migrante 3.000€, por lo que se estiman beneficios de ➕ 600.000€

Hay 8 detenidos en #LasPalmas (4), #Murcia (2), #Cádiz (1) y #Vizcaya (1) pic.twitter.com/RogP4DajSi

— Policía Nacional (@policia) June 6, 2022

Credit: Twitter @policia

Several enquiries and investigations carried out by the Spanish National Police, led to the identification of two criminal organisations dedicated to the trafficking of Moroccan migrants, which operated from the Moroccan coast to the Canary Islands, as reported by the Spanish National Police.

The investigators were also able to find out that the criminal network charged each migrant an average of €3,000  although initially they asked for the payment of €4,000  and if they did not have enough migrants for the boat to reach its full capacity, they lowered the price to €2,500.

With the number of boats and migrants transferred known to the agents, a profit for the organisation of more than €600,000 has been estimated.

Once the police had gathered all the evidence, in order to dismantle the organisations, an operation was designed in several provinces in which almost 100 police agents participated, carrying out three entries and searches at the homes of the leaders of the organisations.

These operations were carried out specifically in Sotogrande (Cádiz), Lorquí (Murcia) and Lanzarote (Las Palmas), during which numerous information storage devices were seized, as well as documentation relating to the economic transactions to pay for the journey in the small boats.

The eight people arrested during the investigation were handed over to the judicial authorities as suspects in crimes against the rights of foreign citizens, membership of a criminal organisation and false documentation.

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