Spain’s National Police said on Thursday that they have smashed an international ring which smuggled around 200 Senegalese nationals into Europe via Madrid airport, and which has been overwhelmed recently by an influx of asylum seekers.
Officers arrested 12 alleged members of the ring, which had created a manual that outlined in detail how to request asylum in Spain by falsely claiming to be a minor from war-torn nations like Mali or Ethiopia, the police said in a statement.
Among those arrested is the suspected leader of the network.
The gang instructed the migrants to fly to Casablanca in Morocco, and then buy a plane ticket to several destinations in South America with a layover in Madrid.
‘Once they boarded in Casablanca with their original passport, they tore up their passport inside the plane,’ the statement said.
On arrival in Madrid, they requested asylum and since they claimed to by minors, they were not detained at the airport but were instead sent to protection centres across Madrid, it added.
The network then picked them up and transported them by car to Belgium, France or Germany, or to a bus station where they could travel on their own to another destination.
Nearly 200 people entered Europe this way, a police spokesperson said. The suspects – 11 Senegalese and a Spanish national – were arrested in Madrid and in the southeastern city of Alcoy (Valencia), she added.
Madrid airport, Spain’s busiest, has experienced a surge in asylum requests in recent months, which has forced the authorities to open two new rooms to house them following complaints about overcrowding and poor hygiene in the existing spaces.
The government also started requiring a transit visa for nationals from Senegal and Kenya who wish to travel through a Spanish airport to try to curb the influx.
More asylum claims were made at the airport in January – 864 – than during all of 2022, the last year for which official figures are available, when 767 were filed.
Spain is one of the main gateways for immigration into Europe. A total of 56,852 undocumented migrants entered Spain last year, an 82.1% jump from 2022, mainly due to a record number landing in the Canary Islands.
ALSO READ: Over 1,000 migrants reach the Canary Islands in 18 boats over the past 3 days.
🚩Desarticulada una red internacional que introducía a través de #Barajas a migrantes que se hacían pasar por menores solicitantes de asilo
— Policía Nacional (@policia) February 15, 2024
🚩Se han practicado un total de 12 detenciones en la Comunidad de #Madrid y en #Alcoy pic.twitter.com/itnTvHYxZy
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