Spanish police on Monday dismantled a Chinese mafia responsible for smuggling migrants from Cadiz to the UK, which was said to have crammed people into a small house for weeks until their transfer.
According to reports, 14 people have been arrested for smuggling more than 250 immigrants, document falsification and drug smuggling.
According to a Spanish media. The worldThe criminal organization facilitated the illegal entry into Spain of Chinese nationals both by air and by land with falsified documents.
The police began investigating when they noticed a continuous flow of Chinese immigrants in La Línea de la Concepción, a municipality in Cádiz, Spain.
The migrants were reportedly heading to Gibraltar with the intention of reaching the UK.
A video released by Spanish police shows small, narrow and dark rooms in a house in Cádiz where the trafficking gang is believed to have housed migrants.
Several suitcases and personal items can be seen in the clip, indicating that several people have been living in the house.
As they passed through Cádiz, in the south of Spain, the immigrants were “hidden in tiny spaces, like a dungeon” for weeks before being transferred to the UK in “terribly unsanitary conditions”.
They were also prohibited from leaving the overcrowded building where they were housed.
A video released by Spanish police during a raid on the property where the migrants were staying shows a small, dark and cramped room with only one bed. When one of the officers picks it up, they find countless pieces of trash and hair clippings underneath.
More rooms are discovered, and the video shows several suitcases and personal belongings, indicating that several people have stayed there.
Those involved in the illicit smuggling, who are also Chinese nationals, are said to have falsified documents, including passports, visas and stamps of Schengen countries.
Police discover trash and hair clippings under a bed, showing that immigrants have been exposed to unsanitary living conditions.
According to Spanish police, the Chinese trafficking gang falsified documents to facilitate the trafficking of immigrants to Europe
It was also discovered that the organized crime network sold and distributed synthetic drugs, such as ketamine and MDMA, whose mafia operations earned them around one million euros in total.
This is not the first time that Spanish police have arrested Chinese-led human trafficking gangs.
In 2018, police in Spain arrested 155 people and broke up an international Chinese human trafficking ring that was smuggling people to Britain and Ireland.
Officers said the gang leader charged migrants a flat fee of 20,000 euros each to take them to their final destination with fake passports.
They were locked up in apartments near Barcelona after arriving in Europe before being put on flights leaving mainly from the city’s El Prat airport.
