• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Español
  • English
  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
CDE Almería – Centro de Documentación Europea – Universidad de Almería

CDE Almería - Centro de Documentación Europea - Universidad de Almería

Centro de Documentación Europea de la Universidad de Almería

  • HOME
  • WHAT´S ON
    • EU BULLETINS
    • EU NEWS
    • Activities
    • EU Calls and Awards
    • Radio Program «Europe with You»
  • DOCUMENTATION
    • Bibliographic Collection
      • Almería EDC Digital Collection
      • UNIVERSITY OF ALMERIA LIBRARY
    • Documentation by topic
    • EU Media Collection
      • Web Space
      • MEDIATHEQUE REPOSITORY
  • Europe on the net
    • Institutions
    • EU Representation in Spain
    • European information network of Andalusia
    • EU official journal
  • ABOUT US
    • Presentation
    • People
    • Contact

29 arrests in France and Spain in a migrant smuggling case

Inicio » EU News » 29 arrests in France and Spain in a migrant smuggling case

20/09/2019

Minors who escaped from protection centres were also smuggled by the criminal group.

The Spanish National Police (Policía Nacional) and the French National Police (Police Nationale), supported by Europol, dismantled a large poly-criminal network involved in migrant smuggling, trafficking of human beings and drug trafficking.

The organised criminal group targeted also unaccompanied minors in protection centres in Spain. They incited the minors to escape the centres and embark on dangerous journeys towards western Europe. The criminal group used recruiters from different countries to target migrants from their own national group (Algerian, Malian, Moroccan and Syrian). The irregular migrants were transported from the Spanish port of Almería to France on buses owned by companies located in France, Morocco and Spain. The criminal group also used the buses to smuggle hashish, tobacco and hunting species. The goods and animals were hidden in holes in the vehicles, which had been specifically created to conceal their smuggling efforts.

Context

The investigation began with the arrest of a Spanish national in France who was driving a bus with 22 irregular migrants on board, six of whom were minors. The information triggered a large-scale investigation in Spain, which uncovered a criminal network allegedly headed by the main administrator of the company owning the buses, a Moroccan citizen. The operation resulted in the arrest of 26 suspects in Spain and 3 in France, 14 house searches and the seizure of €33 000, various documents, computer equipment, more than 200kg of hashish, a vehicle and a trailer.

Europol supported the operation with coordination, analysis and information exchange. Europol financed the organisation of an operational meeting and provided on-the-sport operational support during the action day with the deployment of two analysts in Spain and one in France to support the action in the field.

More information

Press release

Publicaciones relacionadas:

The European Agenda on Migration: EU needs to sustain progress made over the past 4 years NGOs saving lives in the Mediterranean: MEPs to assess the situation EU Trust Fund for Africa: new migration-related actions to protect vulnerable people and foster resilience of host communities in North of Africa Human rights breaches in Hong Kong, Russia and at the US-Mexican border EU asylum rules: Dublin regulation reform

“This is a space for debate. All comments, for or against publication, that are respectful and do not contain expressions that are discriminatory, defamatory or contrary to current legislation will be published”.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Publicaciones relacionadas

The European Agenda on Migration: EU needs to sustain progress made over the past 4 years NGOs saving lives in the Mediterranean: MEPs to assess the situation EU Trust Fund for Africa: new migration-related actions to protect vulnerable people and foster resilience of host communities in North of Africa Human rights breaches in Hong Kong, Russia and at the US-Mexican border EU asylum rules: Dublin regulation reform

Footer

Centro de Documentación Europea de Almería
CDE Almería

Edificio Parque Científico-Tecnológico (Pita) Planta: 1ª, Despacho: 29
04120 – Ctra. Sacramento s/n.
Almería (Spain)
Teléfono: (+34) 950 015266

Sing in!

Navigation

  • HOME
  • WHAT´S ON
    • EU BULLETINS
    • EU NEWS
    • Activities
    • EU Calls and Awards
    • Radio Program «Europe with You»
  • DOCUMENTATION
    • Bibliographic Collection
      • Almería EDC Digital Collection
      • UNIVERSITY OF ALMERIA LIBRARY
    • Documentation by topic
    • EU Media Collection
      • Web Space
      • MEDIATHEQUE REPOSITORY
  • Europe on the net
    • Institutions
    • EU Representation in Spain
    • European information network of Andalusia
    • EU official journal
  • ABOUT US
    • Presentation
    • People
    • Contact

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Copyright © 2022 CDE Almería · Legal terms · Privacy policy · Cookies policy