Spanish police said Tuesday they have dismantled a criminal ring accused of recruiting unaccompanied migrant girls from care centres in Gran Canaria and moving them to mainland Spain and France, where some were sexually exploited.
The operation comes as migration debates have returned to the forefront across Europe after a mass border crossing from Morocco into the Spanish territory of Ceuta last month left hundreds of unaccompanied minors stranded in the city.
The Guardia Civil said the investigation began after a migrant girl who had been under the care of authorities in Gran Canaria returned to Spain from France and told investigators she had been recruited with the promise of a job.
Investigators subsequently identified several similar cases involving girls who left care centres without their personal documents and were later linked to flights to mainland Spain, the Guardia Civil said in a statement.
The network allegedly exploited the girls’ vulnerability, offering to help them leave the Canary Islands while providing false identity or travel documents and arranging their journeys by air and land.
“All with the aim of facilitating their departure from the islands and subsequently transferring them to mainland Spain and France, where some of them are alleged to have been subjected to sexual exploitation,” the statement said.
The Guardia Civil said it rescued two victims and prevented four other minors from leaving the islands.
Five people were arrested, including one minor, following five searches across Gran Canaria.
Some 72,000 migrants breached Ceuta’s border in an unprecedented and deadly rush on July 30-31, with 70,000 having since returned to Morocco, according to Spanish government figures.
Spain’s Youth and Children Minister Sira Rego said Friday that 1,342 unaccompanied migrant minors had been registered in Ceuta following the mass influx from Morocco.
Aid groups have warned that the minors, many of whom are sleeping rough on the streets of Ceuta, are at risk of abuse and exploitation.
