Spain’s Guardia Civil police hace arrested five people suspected of belonging to a criminal network based in Gran Canaria that allegedly targeted unaccompanied foreign minors living in care centres, helping them leave the Canary Islands before transporting them to mainland Spain and France, where some are believed to have been subjected to sexual exploitation.
The investigation began after authorities became aware of the case of a girl in care who had left a protection centre in Gran Canaria before eventually managing to return to Spain from France. She told investigators that she had been recruited with the promise of a job.
Officers subsequently identified a number of similar cases involving girls who had disappeared from care centres without their personal documents and who, within hours, were found to be linked to flights departing for various destinations on the Spanish mainland.
Criminal network allegedly exploited girls’ vulnerability
According to the Guardia Civil, investigators uncovered a common pattern in which the organisation allegedly took advantage of the girls’ particular vulnerability. Many had no family ties in Spain, faced language barriers and hoped to leave the Canary Islands either to find work or travel onwards to other European countries.
Under the guise of helping them, members of the network allegedly offered the girls a way to leave their care centres, provided them with identity or travel documents that did not correspond to their real identities and arranged their journeys by air and road.
Investigators say there was a clear division of responsibilities within the group. Some members allegedly contacted the girls directly or facilitated communication with them from inside the care centres, while others handled documentation, distributed items needed for their journeys or purchased tickets. Other suspects are accused of accompanying the girls to the airport to ensure they reached the boarding area before continuing to their final destinations.
A key development in the investigation came when officers detected several cases of minors travelling from Gran Canaria Airport using false identities. In some instances, suspects allegedly accompanied the girls as far as security checkpoints and monitored their entry into restricted areas.
According to investigators, this helped establish that the disappearances were not isolated cases of girls running away from care, but part of an organised operation that had been repeated over time.
Two victims rescued and four other girls prevented from leaving
As part of the operation, the Guardia Civil says it has rescued two victims and prevented another four minors from fleeing their care centres and potentially leaving the islands using the same method identified in previous cases.
The arrests took place on 29 July and was carried out by the Canary Islands-based Organised Crime Team (ECO) of the Guardia Civil’s Central Operational Unit (UCO), together with the Las Palmas Judicial Police Unit.
Officers carried out five searches at different locations across Gran Canaria and detained five people, one of whom is a minor.
The searches resulted in the seizure of a large quantity of documentation considered relevant to the investigation, along with other items allegedly connected to the offences under investigation. Mobile phones, electronic devices and cash were also confiscated.
The case remains open and investigators have not ruled out further action.
Enjoying the news from Spain in English? Add us as a preferred news source in Google.
Subscribe to the Weekly Newsletter from Spain in English.
#OperacionesGC | Detenida en #GranCanaria una red dedicada a captar menores tuteladas de origen subsahariano para su explotación sexual
— Guardia Civil (@guardiacivil) August 11, 2026
👩Han sido liberadas dos víctimas y evitada la fuga de otras cuatro menores de edad durante la operación, y detenidas cinco personas, una de… pic.twitter.com/CYHCGgslZI
Click here to get your business activity or services listed on our DIRECTORY.