A very active network of migrant smugglers dismantled
In one year, the investigators, who had placed members of the network under surveillance, identified 150 crossings of the Franco-Spanish border with the support of two to six illegal immigrants each time. At 700 euros per person, 300 euros sometimes under a decreasing rate for groups, the business was lucrative. But he suffered a big setback on September 27 when the teams of the border police of Toulouse have taken action. In two days, they arrested five people and extracted two others from prison where they had landed this summer for other acts, according to a joint press release from the Haute-Garonne prefecture and the Ministry of Justice.
The date of the dragnet was chosen according to the return to France of the presumed leader of this illegal immigration network. This 40-year-old, residing in Lérida, in the north of Spain, supervised the routing of Algerian compatriots, already in an irregular situation in Spain, and wishing to join relatives in the South-West of France.
Dropped off in front of the Matabiau station or picked up from the finance representative
According to the elements of the investigation, which failed in July 2021 – when a “conveyor” was arrested by customs in Cierp-Gaud, south of Haute-Garonne – “five to six smugglers” were in charge of transport illegal immigrants by car from Lérida to Toulouse. They were either dropped off in front of the Matabiau station, or taken care of for some time by the network, reimburse the finances.
Five of the arrested protagonists were indicted and remanded in custody. “The two already incarcerated […] they too will soon be indicted, indicating the authorities. While the last two accused, being abroad, will quickly be the subject of an arrest warrant”.