2023-06-23 23:08:00
Algerian smugglers have been sentenced to prison after trying to smuggle hundreds of migrants into France from Spain.
By VD with AFP Algerian smugglers tried to bring hundreds of migrants into France from Spain. (Illustrative photo). © Marc Demeure / MAXPPP / PHOTOPQR/VOIX DU NORD/MAXPPP Published on 06/23/2023 at 11:08 p.m.
Nine smugglers were sentenced on Friday to terms of one to four years in prison for having brought migrants across the Franco-Spanish border, Agence France-Presse learned from the Saint-Gaudens prosecutor’s office (Haute-Garonne). ). “It is a network which was judged there with its organization, the sentences were substantial”, commented the public prosecutor of Saint-Gaudens, Christophe Amunzateguy, with AFP.
Arrested in “successive waves” since 2021, these nine men, aged 33 to 51 and all of Algerian nationality, were suspected of having conveyed “hundreds” of migrants between Lerida, in Spain, and Toulouse, said the prosecution. . Each passenger had to pay several hundred euros, even “up to 1,000 euros” to cross the border.
READ ALSODamon – Stop using the word “migrant”, what a great idea!
Jail closed
The nine defendants were tried for “help to enter the territory” and “participation in a criminal association”. All were sentenced to prison terms: four years for the two “heads of the network”, three years for three of the smugglers, two years for three others and one year for the last. His participation was considered “less important because he was only transporting” migrants, said the prosecutor. Most of these sentences were accompanied by a permanent ban from the territory.
READ ALSO1.2 billion people forced to migrate by 2050?
#migrant #smugglers #Spain #France #sentenced #prison