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Rabat – Spain has dismantled a Moroccan network that trafficked 600 irregular migrants from Morocco to Spain in 2018.
EFE reported that Spain arrested seven Moroccans for their alleged ties with the criminal network.
The news outlet said that the network had been labeling itself as a “travel agency” based in Larache, a city near Tangier in northern Morocco. The suspects charged the irregular migrants a minimum price of €2,500 per passenger.
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According to the Spanish news outlet, one of the seven Moroccan suspects is a woman. Four suspects have had their residency status regularized in Spain.
According to Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE) Moroccan immigration “peaked 10 years ago, as there were 70,000 arrivals of migrants. In 2017, 39,000 migrants arrived in Spain from Morocco.”
Migration has led to strengthened cooperation between Moroccan and Spanish security services.
Following his first official visit to Rabat on November 19, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez attended the global migration conference in Marrakech in December and discussed the issue of irregular migration.
The two prime ministers reaffirmed their shared goals: To promote regular over irregular migration and to integrate migrants into each of their host countries.
During his first visit to Morocco, Sanchez announced his country’s intention to strengthen and modernize the border with Morocco in order to combat irregular migration.
