A woman arrested in Barcelona charged minors up to 10,000 euros to emigrate to Europe.

The Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) have arrested a 42-year-old woman in Barcelona, allegedly linked to an organization that charged migrant children up to €10,000 to help them reach Northern Europe. Investigators concluded that this criminal group followed a "perfectly organized" method of charging minors for travel from Somalia to Nordic countries, accompanied by an adult who provided them with passports, mobile phones, and bank cards. The officers confirmed that the woman had entered and left Somalia numerous times using different identities, and in April, police had already investigated her for similar incidents at Girona Airport. In that case, the woman arrived at Barcelona Airport with two minors on November 19. The following day, the Mossos received a tip about her location and went to the hotel where she was staying in the Sant Martí district, as there was an outstanding warrant from the National Police to identify her. The same report stated that the woman already had a record for similar cases involving other minors. The Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) took both the woman and the two minors to the police station and, once there, verified that the passports the children were traveling with were genuine, but not their own. They were using the documents of another person, with similar physical features to avoid raising suspicion, and with nationalities from Schengen Area countries to evade cross-border security controls at airports. Under the protection of the Generalitat (Catalan government).

This organization, dedicated to transporting migrant children, also provided the victims with a mobile phone so they could stay in contact with their families during the journey. In the case that led to the arrest in Barcelona, ​​once the children arrived in Spain, the first person they had contact with disappeared. From that moment on, the woman who was ultimately arrested took charge of accompanying the children and providing them with accommodation until their flight to their final destination. The two children who were with the arrested woman at the time of her arrest have been transferred to the Directorate General for the Prevention and Protection of Children and Adolescents (DGPPIA) so they can go to a protection center. The woman is accused of a crime against the rights of foreign citizens for economic reasons and by taking advantage of the victims' vulnerability.