By Euro Weekly News Media • Published: 29 Jan 2019 • 14:35
FIVE members of a gang accused of kidnapping migrant children from shelter homes in Spain and demanding ransoms from their families in Morocco have been arrested.
The Guardia Civil believes the Spanish and Moroccan men, aged between 27 and 36, have kidnapped at least 20 children.
During raids on two properties in Puerto Real, in Cadiz, officers found a young person who had been reported missing from a nearby migrant centre.
According to reports, the gang allegedly approached the youngsters offering to help them gain residency permits.
But instead, they kept them prisoner in squalid conditions before transporting them across the country, according to a boy taken from a facility for unaccompanied migrant children in La Linea de La Concepcion.
The organisation then contacted relatives in Morocco demanding ransoms of up to €500.
During the raid, officers reportedly found 10 mobile phones, three computers, three kilos of hashish and €3,600.
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