Smugglers pave path for migrants from Africa to Europe

MADRID: They scale barbed- wire topped fences and cross the sea in

Spain, said it was “impossible” to travel thousands of kilometers from sub-Saharan Africa through deserts and other inhospitable areas without the aid of gangs.

“There is almost no chance of reaching Europe illegally” without Aerial photo shows a boat carrying migrants stranded in the Strait of Gibraltar before being rescued by the Spanish Guardia Civil and the Salvamento Maritimo sea search and rescue agency that saw 157 migrants rescued on September 8, 2018.

The vast majority pay for a spot on

border fences that surround Ceuta and Melilla, two tiny Spanish territories in North Africa that share the EU’s only land borders with Africa.

Up to 5,000 euros

($21) to try to scale the border fences, 200-700 euros to join a packed boat to cross the narrow Strait of Gibraltar separating Spain from Morocco by just 15 kilometers at its narrowest point, or up to 5,000 euros to make the trip by jet ski, according to Spanish police.

Europol estimates migrants pay on average 3,000-5,000 euros for a complete trip to Europe.

Once in Spain, many want to move on to wealthier northern European countries like Britain, France and Germany where they believe they will have better opportunities, or because they already have family there.

Once again, human traffickers play a role in getting them there.

The smugglers promise migrants they will be rescued at sea by the Spanish coast guard and then taken to migrant reception centers where “in three or four days members of the network will be in the area and get you out,” Nieto Barroso said.

The gang will then take the migrants to another country or, in worst-case scenarios, pass them on