HUMAN TRAFFIC GANG SWOOP
155 arrested in raid on ring that charged migrants €20k to enter Ireland
A PEOPLE trafficking ring taking migrants to Ireland for €20,000 has been smashed by police.
Spanish cops yesterday arrested 155 people involved in the Chineserun operation in a blitz centred on Barcelona and El Prat Airport.
Authorities “managed to get five migrants to agree to testify”.
POLICE arrested 155 people yesterday in a swoop on a human trafficking gang that charged €20,000 to get migrants into Ireland.
Spanish officers said they had “dismantled” a lucrative scam believed to be run by Chinese criminals.
It comes just weeks after a Chinese national was jailed for four years for his part in a smuggling ring at Dublin Airport.
Frederick Cham, 63, from Hazelhatch in Co Kildare, was an Aer Lingus employee.
It is believed his scheme was run by a Triad gang with links to the Iberian-based outfit.
Police say gang chiefs charged migrants €20,000 for getting them to their final destination of Ireland and Britain with fake passports.
They were hidden in flats near Barcelona after reaching Europe before being put on flights.
The illegal operation was smashed after five migrants entered a witness protection programme in exchange for giving evidence against gang bosses.
Spanish authorities went public with the arrests yesterday as they published footage of the moment armed officers forced their way into one of the apartments used as part of the human trafficking operation.
It showed an officer shout: “Police, police, get up” as they identified those inside before recoering €27,000 in cash and other evidence.
Spanish authorities also revealed migrants had been taught key words in English to maximise their chances of reaching their final destination.
A spokesman for Spain’s National Police confirmed: “We have dismantled an international organisation specialising in the smuggling of people from China into the UK and Ireland. Each paid €20,000.
“The operation has resulted in the arrest of 155 mostly Chinese people, including the four alleged leaders of the organisation.
“The money covered the cost of all the passports they needed to reach their destination and other help they received from members of the organisation.
“After reaching Schengen territory, the migrants were taken to different municipalities in the province of Barcelona and put up temporarily in safe flats where the travel documents they had used to get to Europe were taken from them while they waited for new documents to arrive.
“The passports were created in China and sent to Spain.
“Once they arrived, the organisation bought air tickets with budget airlines the same day of the flight.”
“Officers managed to get five migrants to agree to testify against the organisation as protected witnesses, a development which was of great value.”
Three properties – two in Santa Coloma de Gramanet and one in Badalona near Barcelona where the four arrests of the suspected leaders of the smuggling organisation took place - were raided.
Chinese people were arrested following the people-trafficking raid
A SICK smuggling ring operating from Spain to Ireland and the UK saw hundreds of people treated like animals, sold off for €20,000 a head.
And there is little doubt the arrest of more than 150 people in Spain yesterday was just the tip of the iceberg.
Fair dues to the Spanish police who arrested not only the foot soldiers in this trade in human misery, but also some of the top gangsters.
People are never for sale – let this be the start of a new wave of arrests wiping out this vile activity.