Algeria disbands migrant smuggling network to Europe, arrests nine Syrians

The arrest of the network coincided with a migrant boat capsizing off the coast of Tunisia, killing five people.
An Algerian flag is displayed on a small boat used by migrants to cross The Alboran Sea, in an open-air warehouse in Almeria, southeast Spain, on October 15, 2021. - At least 309 migrants, 13 of them minors, have died in the western Mediterranean since the start of the year, figures from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) show. The number of Algerians arriving on the coast of southeastern Spain or the Balearic Isles has soared in recent months. A confidential document compiled by the Spanish
An Algerian flag is displayed on a small boat used by migrants to cross the Alboran Sea, in an open-air warehouse in Almeria, southeast Spain, Oct. 15, 2021. - Jorge Guerrero / AFP
Beatrice Farhat headshot
Beatrice Farhat
@beatricefarhat

Algerian police announced on Wednesday the arrest of an international network that worked on transferring migrants from Syria to Europe through Algeria. 

According to a statement posted on Facebook by the Algerian police, the Central Department of the Fight against Organized Crime, affiliated with the Directorate General for National Security, arrested this week nine Syrians and six Algerians, among them two women, suspected of belonging to this network. The police also seized more than $11,000 and 9,000 euros, as well as currency in Lebanese and Syrian pounds, during the operation.

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