The other story of 'La Lechera'

Once there was an old woman, whose father was a milkman, who had a real estate empire in Almeria. At the end of the last century he began to walk with ambition, making great business strides, turning the plots he had inherited from his grandfather into buildings and single-family homes and then rented them. One day this rich landlady abandoned the path of neatness. He made friends on the other side - that of Morocco - who were engaged in trafficking with those who one day decided to leave Africa behind to fulfill the inflated European dream. But all of a sudden, the old woman stumbled upon the men in uniform and plaque that were chasing these traffickers. And his jug of fortune broke.

[This could sound a version of the story of La Lechera in Spain in 2019. Its protagonist: María Isabel Ramón Salas ]

In Almería, many know María Isabel as La Lechera . The nickname came to him by the trade of his father, street vendor of milk. Although the closest ones simply call her Maribel. His story, that of a rich 70-year-old promoter, that of a woman who built an empire over the southern sandy land, is no story for children like the one written by the Frenchman La Fontaine and a century later (XVIII) he resumed the Basque fabulist Félix María de Samaniego.

The history of La Lechera de Almería is that of an old woman who, according to a police investigation, was part of the links of the Moroccan mafias who traffic with sub-Saharan immigrants from Morocco to Spain. His role, as the inquiries point out, was key: he put many of his apartments, scattered throughout the city, available to traffickers to stay with immigrants who arrived in boats across the Alboran Sea. Although the Andalusian city was only the first stop of a long trip that ended in France or Belgium.

In the north of Morocco, the first part of the dome of these networks, the chiefs, settled in the city of Nador, had the La Lechera number in their mobile phone book. For them it was Maribel , "the woman with 180 floors who helped them." That's how they described it.

The role of these bosses was to capture the sub-Saharan people and offer them the complete travel package: departure by boat to the Andalusian coast, accommodation for a few hours or days - in Maribel's houses - and then bus travel to other European countries. The price: between 6,000 and 8,000 euros . The gangsters picked up the immigrants in the village of Taourirt, halfway between the cities of Nador and Selouane, near the small camps that are scattered in the woods, where they await the opportunity to cross. From there they went to the beach of the town of Kariat Arkmane, where the skipper waited in an inflatable boat with an old motor of a fishing boat.

Upon arriving in Almeria, a man named Rachid was waiting for them, who was in charge of taking the immigrants to the floors of Maribel. She charged, directly from Rachid, 50 euros a day for every immigrant who got into her apartments.

But his business was truncated when the National Police dismantled last July the part of the organization based in Spain. Maribel was arrested and released pending trial. It is charged with belonging to a criminal organization and favoring illegal immigration . The operation was carried out in several Spanish cities by the UCRIF (Central Unit of Illegal Immigration Networks and Documentary Falsehoods). In Almeria, the team of Chief Inspector Francisco Castillo , of Group II, took over.

“She was a fundamental part of the mafia chain, she had rented the floors to the traffickers who brought immigrants in patera from Nador. And I was aware of all the fabric behind it, ”explains Castillo. «Women are well known among the Moroccan and sub-Saharan people. He even charged a commission to the mafia, apart from the 50 euros for each tenant, for each time they called to ask for accommodation.

MURCIA BUSES

The inspector adds that in this plot the owners of a Murcia bus company were also involved, who were arrested because they charged their share for taking immigrants out of Spain, usually to Paris, where a relative was waiting for them, who was the one He had taken care of almost the entire cost of the trip.

« Many children also arrived in Almeria . Their parents, who were already in France, contacted the mafias of Morocco to find their children and take them with them, ”says Castillo. Members of this mafia were also related to another network, broken up in April, which kidnapped Moroccan minors from Cádiz centers and took them to the Almeria town of La Mojonera. There they asked 500 euros from their families for the rescue.

Apart from Almeria, the UCRIF operation against human trafficking was carried out in other cities such as Valencia, Alicante, Barcelona and Tarragona. In total, 26 members of the organization were arrested . All were Moroccans with residence permits in Spain. Many of them with a history for the same crime.

«And La Lechera was not the first time we stopped her. Already in 2015 we detected that she and her children falsified lease contracts to facilitate for the fraudulent regularization of immigrants. She was the head of the plot and, with the help of a lawyer, made false rental contracts for immigrants who were already in Spain and who needed to prove that they were in decent housing to make a family reunification, ”explains the inspector. Then Maribel and his children were arrested. They are also awaiting trial in this case.

BEFORE, SEXUAL EXPLOITATION

Years before, the old woman was already investigated by the Police for her alleged link to another criminal organization, this one of sexual exploitation in Almeria. The agents tracked down several people who forced prostitutes to women in Maribel-owned apartments.

In his name appears a company: Promotion and Construction of Buildings, created in 2002. But her husband - already retired, who was employed by Endesa - appears as sole administrator of the Mayoral Ramón SL company, established 20 years ago and with an annual turnover of about half a million euros. "Although her husband is in the papers, she is the one who controls everything , the head of the family," explains another police source in Almeria. «Most of the properties were put in the name of their children and their sister. It has entire buildings, but most are single-family homes, some of up to three floors, divided into rooms with kitchen and bathroom that I was renting ».

We found Maribel ( La Lechera ) in his house, near the beach. She denies all the accusations . «I now have 45 properties and everything is in the name of my children. My parents and grandparents had plots and farms, I inherited, became a promoter and built several houses, ”says Maribel. «No one explained to me why they arrested me. All I did was rent one of my apartments to a Moroccan named Rachid [who is now in jail]. One day he told me that he was going to temporarily put a friendly family there because they were on their way to France. That's the only weird thing I saw. But I have never trafficked with people, nor do I know anything about it. Everything I have achieved has been clean. I only have one company to rent apartments ».

The UCRIF agents who carried out the investigation deny its version ("She was knowledgeable of all the mafia movements") and point it out as a key piece to shelter the traffickers who crossed immigrants to Spain and then took them to France.

Will La Lechera de Almería fall? This time, and not as in the story, a judge will decide.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project