Spanish police have broken up what they say is an organised criminal gang involved in a highly unusual people-smuggling operation involving the moving of migrants from Syria to Spain on an 8,000km trip via Sudan.
A year-long investigation, which was coordinated by Europol and involved dozens of police officers from France, Norway and Germany, uncovered a network of alleged people-smuggling cells across north Africa and northern Europe as well as the main nerve centre of the gang in southern Spain.
They discovered that the gang, led by a Syrian suspect, had been in operation since 2017 and was also allegedly involved in smuggling firearms and drugs. Spain’s Policía Nacional force said 15 people had been arrested – 14 in the south-eastern province of Almería and one in Málaga – of whom 13 had been remanded in custody.
Syrian refugees who endeavour to get to Europe typically go through Turkey and Greece but the route the alleged gang had offered, at up to €20,000 (£17,000) per person, took a circuitous route over thousands of kilometres. A journey from Syria to Khartoum, Sudan, alone is about 3,000km.
Police said the suspects had organised the movement of 200 people through this route with criminal cells based in Belgium, Germany and Spain coordinating the sea crossings and onward transport to northern Europe.
“Well-established in several EU and Middle Eastern countries, the criminal network used an unusually long and expensive route to smuggle irregular migrants from Syria into the EU; starting in Syria, irregular migrants were taken via Sudan or the UAE towards Libya. From Libya they were taken to Algeria, before the journey into Europe via the Mediterranean,” said Europol.
According to the police, the Spanish branch of the operation specialised in bringing people to Spain from Algeria in fast boats, securing accommodation for them in Spain and then organising their subsequent transfer to other countries.
The gang charged between €7,000 and €20,000, with the more expensive “VIP route” including special extras such as a transfer from the arrival point on the Spanish coast, where they were picked up “in high-end vehicles and with tight security measures”, as well as accommodation in Spain.
Investigators also discovered highly sophisticated security and counter-surveillance capabilities. The criminal network implemented stringent security measures with physical and video surveillance at several clandestine points along the coast where the migrants were expected to be brought.
“Teams were put in place on the beaches where the migrants were disembarked to keep a look out for police presence, patrols were sent out and vehicles with powerful engines were used to pick up the migrants,” the Policía Nacional said. “The gang also hid their boats on farms and in industrial units that were fitted with video surveillance.”
Police searched a total of 13 properties in Almería and Málaga and seized €522,710, a pistol, two high-speed boats, two outboard motors, seven vehicles, 200g of hashish, 42 mobile phones, two satellite phones, two computers, a tablet and numerous documents.
Irregular migration from north Africa is currently one of the most controversial subjects in the EU, with a pact already in place with Morocco and a fresh one being negotiated with Tunisia to take “returns” of economic migrants who fail to qualify for asylum.
Police found a “widespread infrastructure” run by the gang across Lebanon, Sudan, Libya and Algeria, none of the countries currently involved in the EU’s strategy to stem irregular migration and deaths in the Mediterranean.
