Algeria dismantles an “international criminal network” dedicated to “migrant smuggling” to Europe

March 23 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Algerian authorities have announced the dismantling of an “international criminal network” dedicated to “migrant trafficking” from Syria to European countries, an operation that has resulted in the arrest of 15 suspects, including nine people of Syrian nationality.

The General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) has indicated in a statement on its official account on the social network Facebook that the operation was carried out by the Central Service to Combat Organized Crime (SCLCO) after “in-depth investigations ” that “lasted more than five months”.

Thus, he explained that the dismantled network “seeked to transport irregular migrants from Syria and Lebanon to the Benghazi airport, in Libya, after which it transferred them by land to Ghadames for their entry into Algerian territory through the border city of Debdab and towards Ouargla through desert roads”.

“After that, the irregular migrants were transferred to the city of Oran (west), which was a meeting point and organized and secret trips to the European coasts, where they were received by the ‘brains’ of this criminal network,” he said. manifested.

The DGSN has highlighted that among the detainees there is a doctor of Syrian nationality who was in charge of the “coordination” of the displacements, as well as an Algerian wanted by the authorities who “demanded exorbitant sums of cash” to organize these journeys.

Algeria is one of the North African countries that in recent years has become a starting point for migrants seeking to reach European shores through the Mediterranean Sea.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) states on its website that so far this year more than 430 people have died or have been reported missing when trying to cross the Mediterranean, a figure that in 2022 rose to nearly 2,400, the highest since 2017.