The investigation revealed that the suspects had been providing migrants from Palestine with documents showing that they were asylum seekers from Lebanon, the press release said. After entering Spain as fake Lebanese refugees, the migrants did not wait to get a refugee status in Spain and were smuggled into Belgium and Germany via France instead.
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The police corps also said that the suspects had demanded 8,000 euros (over $9,000) from each Palestinian migrant, and the total number of Palestinians smuggled into Europe by the group is estimated at 1,200.
The press release also said that five of the suspects had been detained in Spain and another four in France.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), almost 55,000 migrants reached Spain between the beginning of the year and November 4.