Up to 9,000 euros per person: The migration crisis in Spain has become a business for criminal organizations
Spanish police arrested five suspects, presumably affiliated with criminal organizations, who were working to illegally smuggle Moroccan migrants from Ceuta to the Cadiz area, while exploiting the severe migration crisis that has struck Spain.
Spanish police dismantled two criminal networks involved in smuggling migrants from the Spanish city of Ceuta in North Africa to the Iberian Peninsula, taking advantage of the acute migration crisis that has struck the enclave in recent weeks. According to reports in the Spanish media, five suspects were arrested in two separate investigations after the networks charged migrants sums reaching up to 9,000 euros per person for the dangerous voyage.
According to the Spanish news agency EFE and "El País", one of the networks operated between Ceuta and La Línea de la Concepción, in the Cadiz area, on the European side of the Strait of Gibraltar. Four suspects were arrested, two in Ceuta and two in La Línea, on suspicion of belonging to a criminal organization and aiding illegal immigration.
According to the suspicions, members of the network brought small, fast boats to Ceuta, picked up migrants who were waiting in the city, and hid them beforehand in apartments and garages. Afterwards, the boats set out towards the shores of Spain during hours when it was easier to evade police patrols. Investigators claim that the organization preferred experienced boat operators capable of performing high-speed evasive maneuvers.
In the second investigation, another suspect was arrested following a voyage on August 14. Seven migrants were crammed into a small boat for more than five hours, without sufficient safety measures. According to reports, they paid about 8,000 euros each. At a certain point, the fuel ran out and the boat was left in the open sea. The suspect arrested following the incident was sent to detention.
Ceuta has become a transit station
The arrests come days after the Unified Association of Spanish Civil Guard members warned that smuggling organizations have turned Ceuta into a "transit platform" for migrants seeking to reach the European continent. This week, Civil Guard members thwarted another voyage from the La Sirena cliffs area, which included seven migrants and two suspects as the boat operators.
The background is an unprecedented crisis that struck Ceuta at the end of July. Tens of thousands of people tried to enter the city from Morocco within a short time, and from that wave, it is estimated that thousands of migrants remained in the enclave's territory. "El País" reported that now criminal networks are exploiting the fact that many of them seek to reach continental Spain, and are raising the price accordingly.
The crisis is not limited to Spain. Authorities in Morocco have increased activity in the border area over the last week and arrested hundreds of people who tried to reach Ceuta, alongside dozens of suspects in aiding the crossing. In Europe, there are fears that the Spanish enclave will become a central junction on a new smuggling route into the European Union.
