Spanish police arrest five people on suspicion of smuggling migrants from Ceuta

Spanish police arrested five individuals for extorting thousands of dollars from migrants in exchange for transporting them from the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in North Africa to mainland Europe, following an unprecedented surge of migrants in Ceuta last month that claimed dozens of lives.

In a statement, Spanish police said the alleged smugglers were charging migrants up to $10,500 to ferry them by boat from Ceuta to the Iberian Peninsula. Estimates indicate that at least 72,000 irregular migrants entered the Ceuta enclave from Morocco in late July 2026, swimming or walking, in a chaotic influx that resulted in dozens of deaths and sparked disputes within the European Union over the migration issue.

The police added that four of the detainees belonged to a smuggling network that housed irregular migrants in homes and temporary shelters in Ceuta before transporting them across the Strait of Gibraltar to southern Spain. The statement noted, “Boat drivers were selected based on their experience in sailing quickly and their ability to perform evasion maneuvers to avoid police inspections.” Police did not disclose the number of migrants involved in the case.

Two suspects were arrested in Ceuta and two in La Línea de la Concepción, in the Spanish region of Andalusia. The fifth suspect was jailed pending trial, accused of charging 8,000 euros per person, after attempting to transport seven migrants on a small boat lacking “minimum safety standards” on the night of August 14, according to police.

Authorities have returned most of the migrants who entered Ceuta last July to Morocco, but thousands remain there, sleeping in the streets or on the beaches. Meanwhile, the government of Pedro Sánchez announced the creation of temporary shelters to alleviate pressure on the accommodation system in the small town, which is severely strained.