Rabat – Spanish police arrested 43 suspects for their alleged involvement in exploiting migrant workers, including Moroccans in Malaga, Spain.
Spanish police announced on Thursday the arrest of suspects who had been actively working with a network that exploits migrants, who are mostly from Morocco.
Among other criminal offenses, the network is suspected of selling fake employment contracts to the migrants at “exorbitant prices.”
According to the Spanish police, the network has a long history of preying on helpless migrants who would typically pay as much as €3,000 for a fake Spanish employment contract.
At least seven agricultural companies exploited the migrants, who were “housed in inhuman conditions in houses belonging to the network,” police said.
This is not the first time that Spain’s police have busted networks exploiting migrants in the European country.
In April of last year, Spanish security services dismantled a network that was exploiting Moroccan workers in Albacete, in the autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha, central Spain.
Two families left the network in collaboration with an agency specialized in immigration procedures.
Police arrested 11 suspects involved with the network.
The arrest operation came months following the opening of an investigation into the case in October 2020.
In a similar case, a farm owner in northeast Spain paid a fine of €1,500 for exploiting his workers in 2018.
Spain’s security services received several complaints recently from seasonal workers, particularly Moroccans.
Workers, especially women farmers from Morocco, complained about bad working conditions on Spanish farms in 2018 and 2019.
Many have also claimed they faced sexual assaults in Huelva, where they travel seasonally to pick strawberries.
