LUIS F. DURAN Madrid

Madrid

Updated Thursday, February 15, 2024-14:47

  • Interior The Barajas crisis overwhelms the Interior: 400 immigrants and mountains of garbage

The

National Police

has dismantled an

international network that introduced immigrants of Senegalese origin through the Adolfo Suárez-Madrid Barajas airport

who posed as

menas

to request asylum upon arrival in Spanish territory on flights from the city of Casablanca (Morocco). . The criminal organization gave the immigrants a manual explaining the steps to follow from boarding until their arrival at the Madrid airport, according to the Police.

The immigrants

posed as minors

from countries in conflict such as Mali or Ethiopia. After tearing up their passport inside the plane to request asylum, they were no longer detained at the airport, but rather were transferred to first reception centers in the Community of Madrid for protection purposes. The Police emphasize that

the first reception centers enjoy an open regime

, "so once they entered them they left without formalizing their asylum request."

The organization had an entire

network to collect and transport these people

when they left the center, where different people came by vehicle to transport them, in exchange for a financial amount, to different bus stations, airports, or even directly to France, Germany or Belgium.

The operation with 12 detainees, including the ringleader, took place weeks after the collapse registered in Barajas due to the arrival of immigrants from different African countries, mainly Senegalese, to request asylum. This clandestine immigration network had devised a

sophisticated air route

to illegally introducing people of Senegalese origin into Europe, as reported by the Police.

According to the Police, once they had overcome the first obstacle, consisting of

getting from Senegal to the city of Casablanca (Morocco)

, the immigrants, following the instructions of the organization, acquired a plane ticket to different countries in South America.

The 'modus operandi' coincides with the procedure of "fraud on a scale" that police unions have been denouncing for weeks, which have pointed to the

Royal Air Maroc

as a means of entry for immigrants who then requested international protection in Spain, they informed Europe. Press in police sources.

These flights had the necessary requirement that they transit through the Madrid airport, thus taking advantage of our country as a

gateway to the European Union

. In reality they did not want to reach their final destination, but, taking advantage of the absence of the visa requirement in transit, once they arrived in our country they gave up continuing their trip.

The fact that the victims of this clandestine immigration network could be minors alerted the

Madrid Juvenile Prosecutor's Office

, who entrusted the first investigation efforts to the Madrid Immigration and Borders Brigade and the Madrid Provincial Information Brigade. , which demonstrated that in no case would they be minors.

In the operation, which has allowed the criminal organization to be dismantled, a total of twelve people have been arrested in different parts of the

Community of Madrid

and Alcoy, including the leader of the network at European level. The investigation remains open and more arrests are not ruled out.