Forty-seven people were arrested during the dismantling of an international network of human trafficking, which was active in North Africa, Gibraltar, Spain and other European countries, Spanish police announced on Sunday.
After a year of investigation, several hundred agents were mobilized for this operation, which was coordinated by Europol (European agency for cooperation between criminal police) and supported by special police units in Gibraltar.
The network is supposed to have provided false identity documents to some 130 migrants who were thus able to travel first to Spain, and then on to other EU countries. The migrants had to pay from €7,000 to €8,000 for the trip, plus hundreds of euros more for lodging, or when the destination was at a greater distance.
Nineteen thousand euros in cash, dozens of mobile phones and five vehicles were seized during the police operation. The network also used taxi drivers and people to issue travel tickets. Based in Morocco, the criminal organization has earned over a million euros in total.
The Brussels Times
