Monday, 1 December 2025, 18:08
Granada’s High Court has given prison sentences to 14 members of a network that smuggled numerous Moroccan migrants into Spain between 2019 and 2020. The migrants were able to cross the border by showing legal residence permits sold to them by members of the gang with whom they bore a certain physical resemblance.
All the accused are originally from Morocco and lived in the towns of Motril and Torrenueva Costa. There, they were in charge of locating relatives or people related to their circles of friends who wanted to sell their passport or residence permit to the bosses of the network.
The latter transferred the documentation to Morocco, where, in exchange for the payment of large sums of money, ranging from 14,000 to 20,000 euros, they provided it to the migrants.
Accompanied by one or more of the members of the gang, the migrants travelled to Spain, presenting their documents at border controls and posing as the real owners.
To ensure successful entry into the country a physical match was sought between the migrant and the legitimate passport holder. Once they had managed to enter Spain, the documentation was returned to the members of the gang and used again for other migrants.
The defendants confessed to the crimes on the day of the trial and accepted sentences of up to two years in prison for continuous crimes against the rights of foreign citizens and the use of false documents.