NETWORK SMUGGLING MIGRANTS FROM ALGERIA DISMANTLED

MADRID, JULY 8 /SRNA/ – Spanish police said they had dismantled a transnational criminal network involved in smuggling undocumented migrants from Algeria.

"A transnational criminal organization involved in human trafficking and drug smuggling between Algeria and Spain has been dismantled," the police said in a statement.

According to the statement, migrants were transported in motorboats without any safety measures, while the group was also engaged in drug trafficking.

Migrants were charged between 8,000 and 10,000 euros per person. The same boats were used to smuggle synthetic drugs and cocaine from Northern Europe to Algeria.

Police arrested 20 people in an operation carried out in cooperation with French and Belgian authorities, including 16 in Spain and four in Belgium.

The suspects are believed to have smuggled more than 400 migrants into Spain illegally and are also linked to a shipwreck in October 2022 that claimed the lives of 12 people, prompting the investigation.

The investigation found that the fatal voyage had been organized by a group controlled by a criminal clan based in Belgium. Investigators believe the migrant smuggling operation generated around 4 million euros for the criminal network, while its total revenue, including proceeds from drug trafficking, reached approximately 8 million euros.