In 2019, the National Police received information about a network dedicated to the rendition of Syrian citizens to northern Europe via Spain. The leaders lived in Algeria, but in March 2022 both the leader, his deputy and various members with responsibility moved to live in Malaga and Almería. In both provinces they commissioned a structure made up of Spaniards to support the sea routes: they started from the coast of Almería to reach the Algerian coast, picked up the travelers and returned at full speed to the starting point. The move was an unexpected opportunity. This allowed an action to be started that ended just a year later with the arrest of 15 people – 13 of whom are already in prison – and the breaking up of the gang, whose leaders sometimes even drove travelers to Germany or Norway after disembarking the Andalusian coast.
Dubbed Orontes, the operation, carried out between March 2022 and March 2023, was designed to dismantle a new breed of organization that Frontex and the intelligence services of several European countries had had leads on for four years, according to sources in the investigation. Aside from the rarity of being headquartered in Spain, they had taken complex measures to attract employees with offices in countries like Sudan and Liberia. They also had fast, expensive boats with 300 hp engines that took less than three hours to travel between the coasts of Algeria and Almeria, which were about 130 nautical miles, or about 220 kilometers, apart. In addition, the pilots were armed and did not hesitate to flaunt their weapons in case of problems. Once they arrived on the Spanish coast, they had a device set up to move the migrants into apartments and then take them to their final destination in Northern Europe. According to a police officer, a pirate taxi sometimes picked them up right in a hidden cove in the Cabo de Gata Natural Park.
It was a virtually invisible journey for the Spanish and international security forces. “The idea is that we never see them,” police sources say. “They controlled everything very well. They had even calculated how long it took for a Civil Guard patrol boat to pick them up since they were spotted,” add the same sources, who emphasize that there were no migrants, smugglers or boats when agents arrived at the site. One of the major challenges for the Spanish security forces is that a large and unpredictable number of unidentifiable people are entering via the Algerian route.
The investigation revealed that the boats were in the name of Spanish citizens. They were part of a structure with family fishing roots, which they hired to hide the boats in CCTV vessels, maintain them, repair them, fuel them and take them to the bays where the voyages began . After the beach was secured and the access road blocked, the organization arrived in luxury vehicles to drop off the pilot whose turn it was, always a Syrian citizen. It took off at full speed, reached the Algerian coast, picked up between 20 and 30 people and returned to Almería, reversing the traditional route that usually starts in the North African country. Then the boat was hidden again on Almería soil or, depending on the day, resumed its journey: days have been documented when the connection between Almería and Algeria was made up to three times and with customers in both directions.
Evidence collected by the National Police indicates that the organization made thirteen trips between September 2022 and March 2023, during which 200 people travelled, mostly Syrians but also some Algerians. At the time of the arrests – on March 7 and 8 – another hundred people were awaiting embarkation in Algeria and half a thousand more were en route or waiting in Libya. There are no accurate estimates of how many people were relocated during the organization’s activity. The price per ticket was between 7,000 and 20,000 euros. Those who paid more got a sort of VIP service that included disembarkation in quieter coastal areas, pickup in a high-end vehicle, and tight security. “It poses a great danger because they could take anyone there,” stresses one of the agents involved in the operation.
Recruitment of Syrian nationals – the vast majority of this organization’s clients – was done from Libya. From that country, they even managed to get the documents in by air, mostly via airports in Sudan and Liberia, finally ending up in Benghazi, the second largest city in Libya, a central country on the migration route to Europe. After being housed in organisation-controlled security apartments, the migrants were transferred to Algeria, where they again spent some time in hiding in houses until it was time to travel to the Almeria coast. The most popular landing spots correspond to the surroundings of the Cabo de Gata Natural Park, which offers places that are difficult to access. According to the police, the large area of this protected area and the scarcity of roads also make permanent surveillance and a quick reaction by the security forces more difficult.
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The police operation was led by the Central Unit for Illegal Immigration Networks and Untruths (UCRIF) in collaboration with the units of Almería, Malaga and Alicante. It was also developed in coordination with Europol and with the participation of the German and Norwegian authorities. The work culminated in the arrest of 15 people – nine Spaniards, five Syrians and one Algerian – who were already in prison after being arrested by the Guardia Civil months earlier and who had reached an agreement from there that their route would be served by The organization has now been dissolved. Nine of them lived in the capital Almería, five in Roquetas de Mar (also in the province of Almería) and another in Málaga.
During the 13 searches in both Andalusian provinces, investigators seized 522,000 euros and 1,200 euros in cash, as well as two speedboats, a pistol, engines, petrol and seven vehicles, as well as 42 telephones – two of which include satellites – and computer equipment and various documentation. Those arrested are suspected of belonging to a criminal organization that facilitates irregular immigration and drug trafficking, as some took advantage of the constant commuting to transport narcotics. 13 of them are already in prison after the trial.
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