Cablegate: Spanish Police Report 16 Arrests for Trafficking

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS MADRID 001727

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PREL SP FR GA CV SG PO
SUBJECT: SPANISH POLICE REPORT 16 ARRESTS FOR TRAFFICKING
CHILDREN THROUGH THE CANARY ISLANDS

1. All major Spanish dailies are reporting that Spanish
National Police (SNP) authorities in the Canary Islands
announced May 5 that 16 people from Spain and Cape Verde had
been arrested on suspicion of trafficking children from the
Cape Verde Islands through the Canary Islands to France. The
SNP reported that at least 179 minors were trafficked by the
ring that sent children to France for prostitution, drug
trafficking, and illegal adoption purposes. The three-month
"Operation Stork" investigation included staking out the Gran
Canaria airport after weekly charter flights from Banjul,
Gambia, aroused suspicion because some mothers had taken the
flights with different children during different weeks.
French Air and Border Police (PAF) also participated in the
investigation.

2. According to the press reports, victims were taken from
the Cape Verde Islands to Dakar, Senegal, where passports and
identification cards were falsified with the apparent
involvement of members of the Cape Verde Embassy in Senegal.
Victims then traveled by highway to Banjul, Gambia, where the
traffickers had connections with an air charter service to
the Canary Islands. Victims would then transfer to flights
bound for Paris. The traffickers would return to Cape Verde
via Lisbon to avoid the Customs Authorities in the Canary
Islands.
MANZANARES

© Scoop Media