Simon Wade
A GANG of 24 people traffickers operating in Costa Calida have been arrested for smuggling people from Algeria.
As well as the 23 men and one woman detained, some 100,000 doses of methamphetamine worth a million euros were seized.
Operation ‘Milousi’ carried out by the Guardia Civil, arrested the gang Moroccans and Algerians for alleged illegal detention, human rights abuses, serious threats, coercion, drug trafficking and belonging to a criminal organization.
The crimes were discovered following the investigation of a family in Fuente Álamo (Murcia) led by a Moroccan man, his wife, two children and two of his brothers-in-law.
Ultimately, their home and another property in Cartagena were raided, where Guardia seized the drugs along with four vehicles, cash, mobile phones, fuel drums and documentation related to their people-smuggling activities.
Sources say that both houses had dormitory rooms to house newly-arrived victims of their trafficking operation.
The gang boss recruited skippers of high-powered ‘taxi boats’ to transport victims from Algeria to the Spanish coast.
Ten of those skippers were among the 24 arrested, with seven of the gang going straight to prison.
The investigation remains open, so future arrests are not ruled out.
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