Spanish police smash migrants kidnap gang

MADRID: Spanish police said they had broken up a gang suspected of kidnapping migrants shortly after they arrived in Spain by boat from Morocco and holding them for ransom.

The gang allegedly waited for migrant boats to land on beaches near the southern port of Algeciras, and then promised to help migrants find their family members in Spain, police said in a statement.

The victims were then taken to a house in Algeciras where they were locked up in rooms and forced to give up their mobile phones and other personal items.

Gang members would phone the victim’s family members and

 demand 500-2,000 (RM2,341-9,365) to secure their release.

They would interrogate their victims beforehand “to estimate how much they could demand from their loved ones,” the police said.

Police arrested five suspects as part of their investigation – three men and a woman from Morocco who were living in Spain legally and a Spanish woman.

The men allegedly carried out the kidnappings while the women kept watch over the victims.

Police said the operation remained open and they did not rule out further arrests.

The authorities said they began their probe in August 2017 after becoming aware that migrants were being kidnapped after they reached Spanish shores. — AFP