A Spanish police officer on July 13, 2023 in front of a boat that arrived at Las Galletas beach on the Canary island of Tenerife with 41 people on board. More and more migrants from Africa are taking a route via the Spanish Canary Islands that is less closely monitored than other routes.Photo: DESIREE MARTIN/AFP via Getty Images
According to the Spanish police, they have broken up a criminal smuggling network that was used to smuggle people from Syria to Europe.
In cooperation with the German federal police and Europol, it was possible to break up the logistics of a “criminal organization” that was “trafficking in Syrian migrants”. That said investigators from Spain on Sunday. A total of 19 people were arrested, six of them are in custody.
According to investigators, the migrants paid the equivalent of 20,000 euros per person to get to Europe. They initially flew to Egypt from Syria’s neighboring country Lebanon.
From there they continued their journey overland via Libya and Tunisia to Algeria and were then taken by boat across the Mediterranean to the Spanish coast.
According to the Spanish police, the migrants were then driven to Madrid, Cuenca or Toledo and housed in miserable conditions.
After all, they would have had the choice of staying in Spain or being smuggled on to Germany for 1,000 euros or to Norway for 2,000 euros. The amounts for the smuggling were paid via the hawala system, in which cash is transferred anonymously for a commission.
Since the start of the Syrian civil war, which has killed more than 500,000 people to date, millions of Syrians have left their country for Europe. The main target country is Germany. (afp)