A total of eight people have now been detained as part of Operation Pranzo, an investigation into crimes against the rights and freedoms of foreigners.
The investigation began last April when the Guardia Civil became aware that two Moroccan women were heading a network involved in the smuggling of illegal immigrants into Spain, The newtork was spread out between the cities of Ceuta, Algeciras, Sevilla, Madrid and Bilbao.
The two woman located young people wanting to cross the Straits of Gibraltar into Spain and offered to help, charging them a small fee in advance.
Three people in Ceuta, Algeciras and Tetúan, who are amongst those arrested, then transported the would-be immigrants in lorries, either hiding them in vehicles with false bottoms or otherwise hiding them amongst cargo items, to Algeciras.
Once in Algeciras, the immigrants were hidden in a house belonging to one of the ringleaders of the network. One of the leaders would then travel to Morocco to obtain the ‘final payment’, which was somewhere between €6,000 and €10,000, from the family of the immigrant.
Once the money was received, arrangements would be made for the immigrant to proceed to his or her final destination in Spain.