The collaboration between the Spanish and French police has made it possible to dismantle a human trafficking network that operated at the Irún border crossing. The two detainees, one of Spanish nationality and the other French, contacted sub-Saharan migrants who arrived in the town of Irún and offered to facilitate their passage in exchange for prices that ranged between 50 and 400 euros.
The investigation began months ago, when agents from the Unit Against Immigration and Falsehood Networks in San Sebastián and Irún, together with agents from the French Brigade Mobile de Recherche, detected that a large number of people of sub-Saharan origin were crossing the border from Guipúzcoa to the south of France.
Finally, a joint operation that both police established on May 30 and 31 in the French towns of Hendaye and Saint Jean de Luz made it possible to locate and arrest the two men. Subsequently, one of the homes was searched, where police sources confirm that the agents have seized numerous personal effects and evidence that would incriminate them in the criminal plot.
It so happens that the two men operated in a place that has become a hot spot for European immigration in recent months. Dozens of Sub-Saharans arrive in Irun with the intention of continuing their journey to France. However, the strict controls applied by the French police since the start of the pandemic make it very difficult to cross on foot. Try to swim across the Bidasoa River, where in the last two years at least eight people have drowned.
There is no data about the number of people who have managed to get through thanks to this plot. Although a good account of its activity is given by the figures considered by the National Police. The agents calculate that in the months they were operating they would have obtained a profit of 24,000 euros.
One of the detainees is a man of Spanish nationality with a history of drug trafficking. The French judicial authority has decreed his entry into preventive detention. The other arrested is a man of French nationality and without a record who has been released with precautionary measures.
