Spanish National Police have arrested five people suspected of belonging to a criminal network that smuggled migrants from Algeria to Spain aboard high-speed boats, authorities announced Thursday.
The network operated between the Algerian coast and Murcia in southeastern Spain, using powerful speedboats to transport migrants across the western Mediterranean.
The investigation began in early July after a boat carrying at least 24 Algerian migrants, including four minors, reached Águilas, a coastal municipality in Murcia, according to Europa Press.
Two boats equipped with high-powered engines were seized during the operation. Such vessels allow smuggling networks to make the Mediterranean crossing at high speed and complicate interception by law enforcement.
During the investigation, Spanish authorities detected one of the boats waiting to be refueled at sea, a method used to extend the vessel’s range during crossings.
After realizing they had been detected, the crew forced the migrants aboard to jump into the sea without life-saving equipment before fleeing at high speed, leaving them in the water.
A pursuit at sea followed, resulting in the arrest of four men aboard the vessel. A fifth was detained as part of the broader operation against the network.
The five face charges including membership in a criminal organization, facilitating irregular immigration, smuggling and causing bodily harm.
Algeria leads arrivals on western Mediterranean route
The operation comes amid broader migration flows from Algeria toward Spain across the western Mediterranean.
According to the latest figures from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) cited in the report, Algerians accounted for 42% of the 5,647 irregular arrivals recorded along the western Mediterranean route between January and April, making Algeria the leading country of origin on that route.
The figures highlight a migration corridor that has received less international attention than other routes into Spain but continues to carry significant numbers of people from the Algerian coast toward southeastern Spain.
Algerian authorities’ limited coordination with Madrid and Brussels on readmissions has emboldened this movement.
For many of those making the crossing, Spain is also not necessarily the final destination, with France remaining a major destination for Algerian migrants once they reach European territory.
