Spanish police have arrested five people accused of running migrant smuggling networks that ferried people from the North African enclave of Ceuta to the Iberian Peninsula, charging as much as 9,000 euros per person.
The investigation began after a boat was found stranded on the rocky coast of Benzú in Ceuta, authorities said. Four suspects were detained — two in Ceuta and two in La Línea de la Concepción, near Cádiz — for allegedly housing migrants in private residences and garages before moving them to embarkation points. A fifth man was arrested in connection with an August 14 crossing in which seven migrants, each paying 8,000 euros, were transported packed together without life jackets.
The arrests follow deadly unrest in late July, when up to 72,000 people entered Ceuta from neighbouring Morocco and dozens lost their lives in the upheaval.