Forty-three people suspected of belonging to a network that exploited immigrant workers, most of them Moroccans, to whom they sold many false employment contracts for money, were arrested in southern Spain, the police announced, according to AFP, Agerpres reads.

The victims ‘were mainly Moroccan citizens’, while the arrested persons are ‘of different nationalities’, unspecified by the Spanish police. The arrests took place in the Andalusian province of Malaga. At least seven agricultural farms were involved in the illegal work of these migrants, who were „housed in inhumane conditions, in houses belonging to the organization”.

The traffickers were selling fake employment contracts for up to 3,000 euros that should have allowed the migrants to regularize their situation. Spain is one of the main gateways to Europe for African immigrants.

In 2022, illegal immigration decreased by 25.6% compared to the previous year, from 41,945 arrivals to 31,219, according to figures published on Tuesday by the Ministry of the Interior. „Migrant workers have a higher risk of finding themselves in a situation of forced labor than other workers,” the International Labor Organization (ILO) pointed out in a September report.

Moroccans are the largest foreign community in Spain, with almost 800,000 people, followed by Romanians, British and Colombians, according to data provided in June 2022 by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

Agerpres