Spanish police bust major smuggling network

Spanish police have dismantled what Europol described as one of the largest smuggling networks operating across the western Mediterranean, arresting 78 people in Spain and Algeria in a major cross-border operation. The Spanish police bust targeted a group accused of moving synthetic drugs out of Spain and Portugal and then using the return route to smuggle migrants and weapons back toward Spain.

Authorities said the network ran a wide range of criminal activity beyond trafficking. Europol linked the group to violent robberies, extortion, illegal detentions and money laundering. Officers seized 18 high-speed vessels worth €5 million, along with guns, more than €25,000 in cash and 15,000 MDMA pills. Searches were carried out at 17 locations in Spain, including Alicante, Almería, Cartagena and Murcia.

Europol said the organization had grown from a drug-trafficking ring into what it called a dual-flow criminal enterprise built to squeeze profit from both directions of the route. The group allegedly moved synthetic drugs, including MDMA, as well as firearms and explosives from Spain and Portugal to Algeria. On the trip back, it reportedly smuggled migrants and weapons to the Spanish mainland and the island of Ibiza using so-called ghost speedboats.

Officials said the smugglers relied on fast boats and international waters near the Spanish coast to transfer cargo and people before arranging land transport. Europol said the migrants were often packed into overcrowded vessels without lights or life jackets and sometimes sent out in severe weather. Investigators also believe suspects carried out sexual assaults, physical abuse and held migrants in degrading conditions in makeshift housing.