The judicial investigation following the assault launched by nearly 2,000 sub-Saharan migrants from Nador towards Melilla, in northern Morocco, revealed the organization of migrant smuggling networks operating from Algeria. An organized mafia, accustomed to profiting from the distress of people who have fled poverty and war in their country. Here are the details.
The statements of the men who were arrested in the attempted illegal migration to Melilla on Friday, June 24, reveal the existence of a criminal organization involved in human trafficking.
Most of the migrants are victims of networks of smugglers who keep them in camps in the forest of Nador, watched over by trained men, to whom they must give 20 dirhams begged a day to eat.
The forced passage attempt to Spain shocked the world in view of the impressive number of people who climbed the fence, jostling and scenes of violence with the police. Nearly 2,000 men had prepared to force their way into Melilla, risking their lives.
And this was the case, since around twenty people died after being trampled on by other migrants when they climbed the fence. The survivors who were transferred to surrounding hospitals recounted the horror of this day, and the violence in which they participated, prepared for it by camp leaders.
At the judicial level, out of the total number of illegal migrants who launched the assault against the Moroccan forces, an investigation was opened against 64 people who testified by telling how this deadly day of Friday June 24, the worst that the Morocco has known in this area.
The Spanish news agency Efe, which was able to access the statements of the migrants, explains that the men spoke of criminal networks operating over 5,000 kilometers and that two routes are taken by the migrants to arrive in Morocco before trying to access Spain.
Before reaching the forests of Nador, where camps are set up to accommodate them and train them to attack the police, they cross thousands of kilometers from Sudan. The first route they take crosses Libya then Algeria, the second via Chad, Niger, Mali and Algeria.
All roads therefore lead to Algeria where the “Boss” is, the man in charge of the network of smugglers, they say. The man would be a Malian, 35 years old, tattooed and muscular. He would be installed in a farm in the Algerian town of Maghniya, 10 kilometers from the Moroccan border, explain the migrants.
The Spanish press agency transcribed the testimonies of 13 people prosecuted in the context of this case which will be tried from mid-July before the Nador Court of Appeal. They are 9 Sudanese, 2 South Sudanese and 2 Chadians.
According to the migrants, once they reached the mountains near Nador, they organized themselves into forest camps waiting for the moment to cross the fence, in a hierarchical structure with a maximum leader and sub-groups commanded by about ten of bosses.
The camp leader is a Sudanese man, thirty years old, named Ahmed who was not arrested by the police. He managed the camps and had about ten additional people who led sub-groups, each made up of fifty members, the testimonies indicate.
“He wore a mask to distinguish himself from the rest of the commanders of the groups, while they wore scarves, they were considered a higher rank than migrants and they were responsible for training them“, reads the transcript of the statement of the Sudanese of Darfur.
The sub-groups in the camps had different functions, such as monitoring the forests in case Moroccan agents raided, managing problems between migrants or searching for food.
The 18-year-old Sudanese who testified in Efe, indicates that he had to pay 20 dirhams for each meal and that he begged to pay. ” If someone broke the rules, they were punished“, adds the young man.
The transcripts of the statements explain that the coordination and communication between the various members of the “Boss” network is done through messaging applications and a closed Facebook group, where they decide how and when to cross the Melilla fence.
Friday was the day the instructions for jumping the fence were given. The young Sudanese explained that at the beginning there were 200 people, but they had to wait for the gathering of more than 1000 others to carry out the plan.
“In the front row were the leaders and people trained to resist the police. Others were in charge of opening the fence”did he declare.
At the end of this chaotic day during which several migrants were injured in the riots, and some were trapped on the fences, no less than 640 sticks and iron bars, 13 metal hooks fixed on wooden sticks, three medium-sized knives, a large hammer, a chain attached to a padlock, were seized, a police report said.
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