Human TraffickingMigrationNews

Spanish National Police dismantles an organization dedicated to the trafficking of Dominican migrants

The international organization provided migrants with airline tickets to travel from the Dominican Republic to African countries with a previous stopover in Madrid, where an airport worker helped them circumvent the entrance police controls. Each migrant paid 8,000 euros for it. , so the profit obtained by the network would amount to more than 240,000 euros
Two people have been arrested and two house searches have been carried out, one in the city of Madrid and the other in the Madrid town of Paracuellos del Jarama, in which 14,820 euros have been intervened, eight telephone terminals, electronic access cards and reflective vests

Spanish National Police officers have dismantled an organization allegedly dedicated to introducing migrants of Dominican origin into Spain through the Adolfo Suárez-Madrid Barajas Airport. The organization provided migrants with airline tickets to travel from the Dominican Republic to African countries that did not require a visa and with a previous stopover in Madrid. Once in the international transit zone, a member of the organization that worked at the Madrid airport helped them bypass the police controls on entering the country. Each migrant had to pay 8,000 euros to the organization, so the benefit obtained from this activity could amount to more than 240,000 euros. The police operation has concluded with two people detained. Two house searches have been made,

International organization with two factions

The police investigation carried out, in collaboration with the Dominican authorities through the Spanish Attaché of the Interior in that country, has evidenced the existence of a sophisticated international criminal organization dedicated to the promotion of illegal immigration that had two branches, one settled in the Dominican Republic and the other in Spain.

The Dominican faction originally captured the migrants and provided them with the airline tickets, hotel reservations and medical insurance necessary to travel to an African country for which they did not need a visa, and which necessarily implied a stopover in Madrid. Once in the international transit zone of the Madrid airport, the migrants were picked up by a member of the Spanish branch who worked inside the airport.

They pretended to be workers

Before starting the journey, the migrants received precise instructions on how they should behave upon arrival in Madrid and on how their clothing should be, since it was key for their purposes that it be the same type and color as the company’s slaughter clothing for the one that worked the member of the organization that received them.

Thus, when they were picked up in the international transit zone, that individual provided them with reflective vests with the logo and name of their company, which allowed them to go unnoticed, believing that they were airport workers.

The same subject, as an airport employee, had access cards for restricted areas, an element that he used to introduce migrants from the transit areas to the airport terminals, thereby circumventing the police controls of entry into Spain.

More than 240,000 euros of profit

The agents have been able to verify that since December 2019 at least 30 people of Dominican origin have irregularly accessed Spain through this procedure, although it is estimated that this number could amount to several hundred. Each migrant paid 8,000 euros to the criminal network for the following concepts: 2,000 euros for plane tickets, 2,000 euros for the member who received them at Madrid airport and 4,000 euros for the Dominican faction.