Catalonia police bust the network with 12 arrests and identified almost 1,000 victims who formed part of an international human trafficking network.

The Mossos d’Esquadra forces carried out searches in the provinces of Burgos and Barcelona, as well as overseas. Police abroad also carried out three searches in Portugal, one in Holland and two in Germany.

Almost 1,000 victims have been identified in this operation, including women and children. Two kilos of marihuana were seized and around €500,000 in profits was also retained from the criminal network.

The operation labelled ‘operacion-contra-el-trafico-de-personas’ started after Guardia Civil officers identified a criminal gang who was in charge of transporting a high number of undocumented migrants to France in 2018.

Of the 1,000 victims were children recruited to work and were exported through Europe from Spain into France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. Pregnant women were also exploited.

The fees for transporting them to these European countries would typically range from €500-€750 with some children and women being left in the middle of nowhere if they could not come up with the money.

The Guardia Civil and Spanish government are expected to give a statement later.

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