Spanish police on Thursday announced the dismantling of a criminal network that smuggled underage migrants from the Canary Islands, where they arrived from Morocco, to France, in an operation that resulted in 11 arrests.
“This organization has logistical resources in Morocco for the transfer” of minors to the Spanish archipelago located in the Atlantic, and “contacts in Ivory Coast to send fake documents” making it possible to obtain fake papers for these young people to take to France, the national police said in a press release.
The investigation began following the disappearance of 14 minors from two holding centers, on the islands of Lanzarote and Gran Canaria, between November 2024 and May 2025.
In recent months, agents arrested a Mauritanian citizen when he tried to board a plane bound for Madrid with three minors without permission from the reception center where they were housed, according to police. A young girl who was initially thought to be a minor turned out to be an adult and was eventually arrested.
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One of the three main points of entry for migrants in Europe
Investigators carried out two searches at homes in Lanzarote, where they seized a number of documents, electronic devices and cash belonging to the network.
In total, police arrested 11 people, nine in Lanzarote, one in Gran Canaria and another in Madrid. Four of them were placed in pre-trial detention for allegedly committing several crimes, including membership in a criminal organization, forgery of documents, illegal trafficking in persons and child pornography, police detailed.
Authorities are keeping the investigation open until all the missing minors are found, added the press release, which did not specify the purpose for which the minors were brought to France.
Spain is one of the three main entry points for migrants to Europe, along with Italy and Greece. The Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic off the northwest coast of Africa, provide an important gateway for irregular migration to Spain.
Nearly 47,000 migrants arrived in the islands last year, a record high for two consecutive years, but the number of migrant arrivals has fallen sharply this year.
