Eight Algerian migrant smugglers were arrested in September and sentenced to prison, after trying to bring into France from Spain some thirty migrants, most of them Algerians too, announced the prefecture of Haute-Savoie. Garonne.
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During the month of September, "
numerous
police
operations
" "
led to the arrests of eight Algerian smugglers (holders of Spanish residence permits) who were trying (...) to illegally enter France around thirty migrants, mostly of Algerian nationality, recently landed on the Spanish coast
, ”wrote the prefecture in a
press
release.
Prices from 200 to 500 euros per passenger
The migrants were turned away and the eight smugglers arrested, said the prefecture.
The investigation made it possible "
to attribute to each accused numerous other passages on various border points, the tariffs varying from 200 to 500 euros per passenger for a journey generally made between Lérida (Spain) and the SNCF station of Toulouse Matabiau
".
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Tried in immediate appearance, the eight smugglers "
were all sentenced to terms of imprisonment, ranging from four months to one year, with immediate detention
".
For “
several months
”, the Toulouse border police have been carrying out “
fixed and mobile checks over the entire border area in order to detect (...) any migratory flow
”, underlines the prefecture.
A policy of solidarity at the heart of the French presidency of the EU
France, which will take over the presidency of the European Union in January, will support "
a policy of solidarity
" towards countries of "
first entry
" into Europe, such as Greece, Italy or Spain, but "
rigorous border control seems to us to be a condition of solidarity,
”Marlène Schiappa, Minister Delegate in particular in charge of asylum issues, explained to the Senate on Tuesday.
See also EU: French presidency "stigmatized"
Spain is one of the main entry points for illegal immigrants in France, who arrive by the coast from North Africa.
In November 2020, President Emmanuel Macron announced during a trip to the Franco-Spanish border, in Perthus (Pyrénées-Orientales), a doubling of the forces controlling the borders of France, "
from 2400 to 4800
", to fight against the terrorist threat, trafficking and illegal immigration.
