CANARY ISLANDS (CANARY PALM TREES) - IRAN/UK HUMAN SMUGGLING
The Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands consists of two provinces, Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
Tenerife is a twin to Miami-Dade County in Florida.
Bill Clinton was first president to visit the Canary Islands when he visited Tenerife
AN astonishing tale of people-smuggling to the UK from Iran, with Tenerife as stopping-off base, has been smashed.
National Police, Guardia Civil and the UK Border Agency collaborated to break up the smuggling gang on the Island after catching the ring leader in Adeje.
The scam, involving wealthy citizens of Iranian origin, cost individuals 20,000 euros each, with a discount for children and a free passage for toddlers under two.
They were all seeking a new life inBritainbut so far, 22 people – 13 of them inTenerife- have been nabbed. Six were also detained inMadridand three inFuerteventura.
The nine arrested comprised five Iranians (one of whom was confirmed to be a resident in theUK), and individuals fromMauritania,Morocco, Malia andColombia.
They have been charged with a variety of offences, including falsification of documentation and provision of false documents, credit-card fraud, membership of a criminal organisation and people-smuggling.
The Canary Islands served as a stop-off point for the immigrants, who were taught how to conduct themselves at the border when arriving inBritain, and how to get legal residency.
They were known as “animals”, “flock” or “sheep” by the smuggling network.
The operation began last February when a person of Iranian origin was arrested at Tenerife South airport trying to board a flight to theUK. He was carrying passports and a fake French identity card.
It is not known how many people were successfully smuggled in total by this group, and it is not yet known for how long they had been operating successfully.
But the Iranians had been shuttled to Tenerife via the border betweenTurkeyandGreecein truck cargo containers, or by plane with forged passports and tickets purchased with stolen credit cards, etc.
But the gang members did not confine their activities to Tenerife and Fuerteventura because they also operated inMadrid,Iran,Greece,GermanyandSweden
http://www.canarianweekly.com/human-trafficking/
He was named as AH, aged 35, who directed the activity from his Adeje home.
The scam, involving wealthy citizens of Iranian origin, cost individuals 20,000 euros each, with a discount for children and a free passage for toddlers under two.
They were all seeking a new life inBritainbut so far, 22 people – 13 of them inTenerife- have been nabbed. Six were also detained inMadridand three inFuerteventura.