Spanish National Police have dismantled a human traffic network accused of smuggling some 1,000 Pakistani immigrants into Barcelona in 2019. The operation has resulted in the arrest of eight people: seven in Barcelona and one in Cádiz in the south of Spain.
Police confiscated 15,000 euros, 400 grams of gold jewelry, 17 mobile phones, tablets and various documentation during raids on four homes in Barcelona. Those arrested have been charged with crimes of belonging to a criminal organisation and violating the rights of foreign citizens.
The group also had drivers, who used legally rented minibuses to travel to Turin and pick up immigrants who subsequently drove to Barcelona by land, sometimes in groups of up to 17 people in vehicles only designed for nine passengers.
Once in Barcelona, immigrants were held by the criminal organization until they could verify that their payments had been made.
The investigation began when the French police informed their Spanish counterparts that a Spanish citizen had been arrested in France for transferring an irregular Pakistani immigrant in his vehicle from Italy to Spain.
This led to an investigation which discovered the existence of a network based in Barcelona with contacts in Turin.
