Spain Charges People Smugglers Using Boats To Avoid North African City Walls

Five suspects in a migrant smuggling ring in the Spanish North African enclave of Melilla have been charged for helping smuggle migrants around the city’s border barrier by sea.

The five suspects were charged on Monday, three of which were arrested aboard a boat last month, another arrested in Morocco and a final suspect who is still wanted by police.

According to investigators, the smuggling network used boats to help migrants reach Melilla, allowing the migrants to avoid the large walls and border barriers the Spanish government has erected in recent years to stop illegal arrivals.

Three of the suspects were initially arrested aboard a boat flying a Spanish flag on January 9th, according to the European Union-funded website InfoMigrants, which reports that 18 migrants were also aboard the boat at the time.

Investigators say the migrants paid various prices for the trip, with some paying as much as €4,000 (£3,370/$4,566) or more to the smugglers.

The smugglers as said to have operated in Melilla and in Morocco where they recruited migrants to make the trip to the city from the nearby city of Nador, then along to the Moroccan coast where the boats departed.

Attempts to reach Melilla or Spain’s other North African enclave Ceuta by sea are rare as many migrants choose instead to attempt to storm the land border, despite the large border barriers, often hundreds of migrants at a time.

In December, two groups, one of 400 and another of 100 migrants, attempted to storm Melilla using makeshift weapons to attack Spanish border authorities as well as Moroccans trying to halt them from crossing the border, leading to 13 Spanish Civil Guards being injured.

Last year, both of the North African cities saw just under 3,000 migrants arrive illegally, while the Canary islands route saw over 22,000.

The route across the Atlantic to the Canary Islands has become more popular with illegals but the route is also far more dangerous and has been credited with 2021 seeing a surge in the number of deaths of migrants attempting to illegally reach Spanish territory.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com