The National Police reported Thursday that they had dismantled a transnational criminal network dedicated to trafficking minors from reception centers in the Canary Islands to France. The action, called Operation Triton, The result is 11 prisoners (nine in Lanzarote and another two in Madrid and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria). Of them, four were imprisoned for crimes of belonging to a criminal organization, falsification of documents, illicit trafficking of human beings, crimes against family rights and duties, concealment and child pornography.
The Police explain that the investigations remain open with the aim of “locating and protecting missing minors”, without specifying how many there are. A spokesperson for the Canary Islands government explained to EL PAÍS that there are currently around 300 open procedures for the escape of minors from the centers where they are hosted. The centers affected were not specified nor how many migrant minors there are.
As reported by the armed forces, the investigation began after the government of the Canary Islands detected the disappearance of 14 minors – 13 from the center of Arrecife (Lanzarote) and one from San Bartolomé de Tirajana (Gran Canaria) – between November 2024 and May 2025. Given the seriousness of the facts, the agents activated a device to clarify their whereabouts and determine whether an organized structure was behind the escapes.
In May, agents intercepted three minors at Lanzarote airport accompanied by a Mauritanian citizen who was trying to board with them for Madrid. Police checks revealed that the minors were under guardianship and without valid authorization or documentation for the trip. The partner was arrested, as was one of the young women, who passed herself off as a minor, but turned out to be an adult. Both are accused of falsification of documents, crimes against the rights of foreign citizens and child abduction.
From this episode, the researchers managed to reconstruct the transnational structure of the network, which operated with a clear distribution of functions and logistics aimed at moving minors from the Canary Islands to French territory. The organization maintained contacts in Morocco, responsible for transfers and border crossings; collaborators in Côte d’Ivoire, responsible for providing falsified documentation; and an infrastructure in Spain that provided temporary accommodation and handled the permanent move to France, police say.
In the instrumental phase of the operation, the Police carried out two house searches in Lanzarote, where abundant documentation, electronic devices, personal effects and cash were seized. The arrests were mainly made on the island (nine arrests), as well as another in Madrid and one in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
Police sources explained that the operation carried out so far has focused on the “Spanish part” of the plot. The connections in both Morocco and France remain to be clarified, for which we are counting on the collaboration of the police forces of both countries.
