La Guardia Civil managed to bust an Albanian gang that specialised in smuggling illegal immigrants, some of them minors, into the UK.

The Albanian immigrants would travel as stowaways on merchant ships or ferries, paying between 3,000 and 15,000 euros to the gang.

The Guardia Civil, in cooperation with the British NCA, began investigating at the end of 2019. Apparently, the gang had been operating this way since 2014.

Thanks to this cooperation and the information obtained, the Guardia Civil managed to arrest seven of the gang members and with other arrests lined up.

So, what has the Guardia Civil got to do with an Albanian smuggling operation moving illegals into the UK, you ask. The answer is that the ships and ferries used were operating out of Bilbao and Santander.

The gang members would be in Spain for three months and then go back to Albania, showing off a wealth incompatible with their supposed jobs. For this reason, the Guardia Civil had to move fast before the ringleaders left the country again.

Having tracked their movement from Bizkaia in the Basque Lands, the police caught two of the ring leaders at Madrid airport, waiting to board a flight for Albania.

(News: Bizkaia, Pais Vasco)