The Alicante-Algeria Route Under Scrutiny: Human and Drug Trafficking Across the Mediterranean

Complex criminal structures, with branches on both shores of the Mediterranean, use fast boats to smuggle irregular migrants and drug shipments from the Algerian coast to various points along the Alicante coastline. Numerous police operations reveal the use of this clandestine route and establish the Alicante region as one of the main entry points for criminal networks operating between Africa and Europe.

However, these organisations face several headaches: the National Police, the Civil Guard, and the Customs Surveillance Service, a specialised body under the Tax Agency. Three 'bloodhounds' that join forces to prevent, despite having fewer resources than the narco networks, criminal action by land, sea, and air.

The National Police and the Civil Guard lead complex investigations into organised crime networks, human trafficking, and drug trafficking in the province. Meanwhile, Customs Surveillance operates mainly in the maritime and fiscal domain, focusing on the detection and interception of suspicious vessels, as well as investigating the financial flows that sustain these organisations.

These police forces work in coordination with Europol and other international agencies, deploying coastal surveillance technology, drones, communication interceptions, and financial analysis to trace the money and dismantle the logistical structures operating between Algeria and Spain.

Human trafficking has become a new source of income for organisations dedicated to drug trafficking in the province of Alicante. These illicit round trips have been expanding for nearly two years and represent a strategic shift in the activity of these mafias, according to TodoAlicante from the III Group of the Unit Against Immigration Networks and Document Fraud of the Provincial Police Station of Alicante (Ucrif).

Criminal groups have incorporated the business of irregular immigration into their criminal 'portfolio' as a way to diversify risks and increase profits. They offer clandestine crossings from North Africa to the Spanish coast aboard narco-boats, fast and better-equipped vessels than traditional boats, which increases the appeal of this illegal service. Semi-rigid boats about eight metres long with 300 horsepower engines can reach speeds of up to 130 km/h and cost around 80,000 euros. Onboard are usually two captains with a satellite phone, ensuring they do not deviate from the established route.

However, in recent times, specialists fighting these mafias have detected a change in the 'modus operandi' of the organisations. Police pressure has led some criminals to switch from using high-powered narco-boats to stealing less powerful vessels from the province's marinas. With this action, they aim to hinder the actions of the State Security Forces and Corps.

For example, the marina of El Campello has been the scene of several attempted boat thefts thwarted by local agents in recent months. According to the law, in Spain, boats over 8 metres in length and 200 horsepower are required to have special permits from Customs and the Treasury, as they are considered objects for transporting people and drugs. Therefore, narco networks opt to steal them from the ports themselves, rather than transport them by road, as the Civil Guard would require documentation they do not possess.

Officials who fight daily against these mafias tell TodoAlicante that narco networks have found that human trafficking is more profitable than drug trafficking, as it does not require infrastructure. They load and unload migrants wherever, regardless of whether they reach the coast, or even if they die.

In a taxi-boat, around 25 migrants can fit, each paying an average of 10,000 euros per occupant. A profit of a quarter of a million euros in just four and a half hours, the duration of the journey from Algeria to the Alicante coast in fast boats.

The migrants pay the entire amount before the trip, on the same beach or even weeks before, unlike drugs, where a part is paid upon receipt. Therefore, they emphasise that "migrants are more profitable than drug shipments."