Migrants cross Europe on speedboats as smuggling gang smashed | World | News
Europol said the gang used speedboats and tour boats to smuggle migrants to Europe (Image: Europol)
24 people were arrested in an operation against a gang that smuggled immigrants to Europe by speedboats. According to Europol, the EU’s law enforcement agency, the individuals in question are allegedly part of a network operating in the Western Mediterranean and providing logistics services to other groups in the region.
Europol said the network was “dismantled” last month following a Spanish-led investigation supported by its officers and France. The agency said the gang had a “broad reach and international structure” that enabled it to engage in “a variety of criminal activities.” This includes drug and arms smuggling as well as “risking the lives of migrants in dangerous maritime smuggling operations”, it said.
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Europol said speedboats and tour boats were seized in raids (Image: Europol)
The smuggling ring was mainly based in the Almería region of southeastern Spain but was also linked to other criminal groups operating elsewhere in the country and in France.
The wider criminal network controls industrial buildings, vehicles, boat repair services and fuel supply systems, Europol said on Tuesday.
It has been reported that the main route of migrant smuggling is from Algeria to Spain using speedboats and tour boats.
Europol said 24 people were arrested by authorities (Image: Europol)
The immigrants are said to have been taken primarily to Spain’s coasts of Almería, Murcia and the Balearic Islands.
Europol said the boats were stored in Spain and the high-powered engines were supplied by network members in France.
He added that migrants are usually brought to the continent by sea, then smuggled by land to France and then to other countries in Western Europe.
It was stated that the 24 suspects arrested were Spanish and Moroccan nationals.
This included an individual identified as a “key facilitator” who was considered a “High Value Target.”
During the operation on March 22 and 23, 14 houses in Spain were searched.
Europol said the seized items included speedboats, semi-rigid inflatable and recreational boats, and truck and boat trailers.
A jammer, air guns, shotguns and more than €80,000 (about £69,500) in cash were also seized.
The investigation was part of a new Europol task force established between Spain and France to target migrant smuggling networks in the Western Mediterranean.
Europol did not say whether the suspects had been charged.
The UN migration agency, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said last week that around 1,000 migrants will die trying to cross the Mediterranean in 2026.
