Migrant shops people smugglers

THREE members of a human trafficking gang have been arrested in Orihuela by the National Police following a tip-off from one of the illegal migrants they smuggled into Spain.

The gang operated from Morocco, usually taking their customers into Cádiz in the south of the country, where they were taken by car to different towns around the country, according to a force spokesman.

The migrant had been brutally beaten in Orihuela by three members of the gang because he had been unable to pay his €2,500 debt.

He told police that he had reached Cádiz in September and had paid €2,500 for the boat trip.

According to the man, the gang had told him to meet them at a river bank in Morocco with the money and no mobile phone.

He revealed that he had travelled with another 20 migrants.

The crossing had taken three days because they only had a small engine and a compass and none of them had any sailing knowledge, noted the spokesman.

The migrant had been arrested in Cádiz by the National Police and released shortly afterwards, despite having an extradition order outstanding in his home country.

A member of the gang had picked him up in Cádiz and taken him to Orihuela, where he was supposed to work and pay the remaining €2,500 he still owed the gang.

However, he had only been able to give them €500.

The suspects are three Moroccan men aged 33 to 56. They face charges for human trafficking and promoting illegal immigration.