Cash haul of gang trafficking migrants to UK for £18k each
POLICE have smashed a human trafficking gang based in Spain that was smuggling Chinese migrants into Britain for £18,000 a head.
Members of the organised crime ring taught the migrants key phrases in English to help get them through border controls.
The gang also provided forged passports – shipped in from China – which the migrants then used to reach Britain and Ireland.
It is not known how many people the Chinese-led gang illegally smuggled into the UK.
Officers say the gang charged migrants a flat fee of 20,000 euros (£17,750) to get them to their final destination with the fake documents.
They were hidden in flats near Barcelona after reaching Europe’s Schengen zone, where no cross-border checks take place. Then they were put on budget airline flights, usually from the city’s El Prat airport.
The 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 officers shouting ‘Police, police, get up’ as they identified those inside before counting out cash and displaying other incriminating evidence they found.
Spanish police also revealed that migrants had been taught key phrases in English by ‘facilitators’. Among the phrases found on ‘ flashcards’ at the scene were: ‘ Do you speak English?’, ‘Do you have return ticket?’, and ‘How long will you stay in this country?’
A spokesman for Spain’s National Police said: ‘Officers have dismantled an international organisation specialising in the smuggling of people from China into the UK and Ireland.
‘The operation has resulted in the arrest of 155 mostly Chinese people, including the four alleged leaders of the organisation.
‘Each victim paid 20,000 euros. 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 by courier. 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 given the migrants’ fear of possible reprisals.’
Three properties near Barcelona were raided, where the four suspected leaders of the smuggling organisation were detained. Around 27,000 euros (£24,000) was seized along with other incriminating evidence. The other 151 arrests took place at Spanish airports, most at El Prat.
It was unclear exactly where the migrants came from, although some of the flashcards indicated they were expecting to be asked about Taiwan, the island nation over which China claims sovereignty. One card coached the migrants on the name of the Taiwanese president, while another asked if they had any Taiwanese money.
Among the other paraphernalia seized by police was a Schengen area entry stamp, designed for use in passports. Officers did not disclose whether the stamp had been stolen or copied. It is understood that the Spanish investigation began almost three years ago after border control officers detected a significant increase in the use of forged documents by Asian citizens.
‘Dismantled organisation’