At least €75,000 was made ‘by profiting in human misery’, sources said.
A total of 19 people suspected to be involved in the trafficking ring have been detained in Lanzarote (10), Murcia (2), Cadiz (2), Almeria (1), Granada (1), Huesca (1), Madrid (1) and Malaga (1).
Investigations began after members of the public reported seeing suspicious activity at ports in the Canaries.
Police soon identified and began tracking two separate gangs, one in Morocco and another in Spain.
The Moroccan group planned and organised the boat trips after recruiting hundreds of undocumented people desperate to leave the country – charging up to €1,500 for the journey.
The Spanish operation, run mostly out of Lanzarote, provided the boats and other equipment.
The investigation, involving more than 70 officers, ended in the arrest of 17 Moroccans and two Spaniards for belonging to a criminal organisation, abuse of human rights, money laundering and falsification of documents.
Spanish authorities claim the organisation contacted Moroccan nationals wanting to migrate to Spain and flew them into Romania. Once in Romania, they travelled by land to Spain through other EU countries inside trucks or vans.
The Spanish Civil Guard law enforcement agency said in a statement that the organisation made more than 50 trips to Spain during a two-year period, with groups between 20 and 50 migrants, who paid €3,000 per person.
Four people were detained in the city of Cartagena in the Murcia region during a raid which took place sometime during the past days, accused of belonging to a criminal organisation and human trafficking.
The logistics centre of the organisation was allegedly set in Romania, where the leader of the gang functioned as a link between the members in Spain, Morocco and Romania, establishing prices to pay by migrants as well as travel logistics.
Current Time 0:00In order to mislead the police, the detainees used shuttle vehicles and smuggled the migrants through border crossings under poor surveillance.
The operation was carried out in coordination with Europol and Frontex European Border and Coast Guard Agency.
