Spanish police have arrested 43 people in the south of the country, suspected of belonging to a criminal group that exploited illegal migrant workers in the agricultural sector, mostly from Morocco, selling them forged documents.
“National police officers arrested 43 people in the province of Málaga and dismantled a criminal group allegedly engaged in labor exploitation and fraudulent regularization of migrants,” the police said in a statement, reported by AFP.
Spanish police said in a statement that the victims were “mostly Moroccan citizens” and that the detainees were “of different nationalities.”
Authorities did not detail the culprits’ nationalities. According to the statement, the arrests took place in Malaga, Andalusia.
At least seven agricultural companies are involved in the scheme, which aims to illegally employ these migrants, who authorities say have been forced to work and “kept in inhumane conditions in the culprits’ houses.”
Spain is one of the main gateways for African immigration to Europe, and in 2022, 31,219 migrants entered the country illegally, 25.6% less than the previous year.
Moroccans represent the largest community of foreign origin in Spain, with nearly 800,000 citizens, followed by the Romanian, British and Colombian communities, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE) in June 2022.
“Migrant workers are at greater risk of finding themselves in a forced labor situation than other workers,” the International Labor Organization said in a report published in September.
add your comment
Terms of publication : Not to offend the writer, people, sacred things, or attack religions or the divine self, and refrain from racist incitement and insults.