Captured at the train station and sent to France for 200 euros: this is how an illegal immigration network operated from Alicante

Captured at the train station and sent to France for 200 euros: this is how an illegal immigration network operated from Alicante.

The Alicante train station, along with those in Barcelona and Almería, has been the scene of operations by a criminal organisation allegedly dedicated to facilitating illegal immigration between Spain and France.

Agents from the Spanish National Police and the French National Police, with the collaboration of Europol, have dismantled a criminal organisation whose members located and picked up irregular migrants, mostly from the Maghreb, sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East, transporting them by land to France in exchange for sums of money that varied depending on the starting point.

A total of 19 people have been arrested, 15 in France and four in Spain in the provinces of Barcelona (2), Girona (1), and Córdoba (1). All detainees have been placed in provisional custody.

In the final police operation, coordinated in both countries, 19 home searches were conducted, 14 in France and five in the cities of Barcelona and La Junquera, resulting in the seizure of a motorboat, cash, drugs, and numerous documents.

Investigations by Spanish agents revealed the existence of a branch of the criminal network based in Spain, comprising members of different nationalities with a clear distribution of tasks. On one side were the recruiters, who searched train stations in Barcelona, Alicante, or Almería for irregular migrants intending to travel to France.

Once recruitment was completed, the organisation employed drivers responsible for transporting migrants to the French town of Perpignan, in exchange for amounts ranging from 150 to 200 euros if travelling from Barcelona, and higher amounts if the starting point was further away.

The network members responsible for the transfers were also assisted by other members acting as "scouts," informing them of possible police checks along the route and the safest secondary roads to travel.

Once in France, and to make the most of the return trip to Spain, the network expanded its profits by recruiting migrants who wanted to leave France and settle in Spain.