Spain dismantles an irregular migration network operating between Morocco and the Canary Islands

In collaboration with Europol, the Spanish national police dismantled on Saturday an irregular migration network operating between the Canary Islands and Morocco. According to El Diario, the operation called «Vulcano» resulted in 28 arrests.

The operation also succeeded in preventing the arrival of eight boats heading to the Canary Islands from Morocco.

?28 detenidos por organizar 20 pateras y cuya organización criminal habría ganado más de 350.000€ lucrándose del tráfico de personas.

Usaban embarcaciones de escasa flotabilidad y sin chalecos salvavidas entre Marruecos y #Canarias#SomosTuPolicía pic.twitter.com/tNJmCL8mix

— Policía Nacional (@policia) July 4, 2020

The migrants paid between 1,000 and 2,000 euros in advance to travel without a life jacket on board. For the police, the organization would have obtained benefits of more than 350,000 euros.

As part of the operation, several searches were carried out in houses in Fuerteventura, Tenerife and Castellón, where 5,630 euros were seized.

The 28 people were arrested in Fuerteventura (12), Lanzarote (6), Tenerife (4), Castellón (3), Gran Canaria (1), Ibiza (1) and Calatayud (1).