Organisation that trafficked Syrian and Algerian migrants dismantled in Spain

Spanish authorities have dismantled an organisation allegedly involved in the illegal trafficking of Syrian and Algerian migrants, which they believe is responsible for the transfer of some 70 people in clandestine boats chartered from Algeria, the National Police said Thursday. 

During the operation, three people were arrested in the province of Toledo (centre), including the alleged leader of the group, who was remanded in custody, the police said in a statement. 

The dismantled network charged up to 10,000 euros (almost 10,800 dollars) per migrant for their transfer in precarious boats from the Algerian coasts, the subsequent transit through Spain and the possible departure to other European Union countries, mainly Germany, according to the agents. 

With this method, the National Police considers them responsible for the irregular entry into Spain of ‘at least 70 people’. 

Coordinated with its parent cell, located in Algeria, the network ‘used fast boats to clandestinely transfer migrants, both Syrians and Algerians, from the coasts of Algeria to the coasts of Almeria and Murcia’, in southeastern Spain, the note explained. 

These crossings were normally made at night, to evade controls, and in ‘boats devoid of any security measures, water or food’, according to the National Police. 

Once on Spanish territory, the migrants were transferred by road to flats and hotels in the regions of Madrid and Toledo, where the network was based nationwide. There, they were hidden in precarious conditions until their transfer to other European countries or areas, especially Germany. 

Before embarking in Algeria, the migrants of Syrian origin had made a complex previous journey that started, according to the Spanish police, at Beirut airport and then took them to Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, before arriving in Oran, Algeria.