Sleeping overcrowded and in unsanitary conditions at abusive prices. The National Police and the Civil Guard have carried out operations in the city of Ceuta in recent days that have uncovered the lucrative illegal business of housing migrants who arrived in the massive jump on July 30 and 31 in patera flats. In the first case, the agents arrested two people who charged up to 900 euros per month for housing them in garages and other spaces without adequate living conditions. In the second, the detainees are a couple who had 25 migrants, including six minors, in a 15-square-meter basement apartment. They demanded up to 300 euros per month from each one.
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Since the migration crisis began 48 days ago, mafias and some individuals have found a lucrative niche in the thousands of people in a situation of special vulnerability who remain in the city. In August, the National Police reported the arrest of five people belonging to two different criminal groups who charged up to 9,000 euros ―a price higher than usual― to those migrants who, after entering the Spanish city, wanted to reach the Andalusian coasts. They did so in small boats, at night, overcrowded and without life jackets or safety measures on a dangerous journey that lasted hours. Some migrant women then told EL PAÍS that they paid up to 60 euros a day for renting a room in a house in the El Príncipe neighborhood. For 20 euros more, they were given food. The money was sent to them by their families from Morocco.
🚩Two arrested in #Ceuta for exploiting vulnerable migrants through precarious accommodations and threats
🔹They charged up to 900€/month for sleeping in garages
🔹They offered transfers to the Peninsula for 6,000€
🔹They coerced and threatened the victims to impose the law of silence pic.twitter.com/8NT9W9jLBE— Policía Nacional (@policia) September 16, 2026
In the two operations now known, those involved acted in a similar way. In the case of the two detainees by the National Police, the investigation began after neighbors of a building in the El Príncipe neighborhood alerted about the constant presence of migrants in the common areas of the building, such as the community garage, which at times reached about twenty. Some of them spent the night on the floor, in spaces intended for parking vehicles. Others did so in storage rooms and other spaces. According to the migrants’ statements, they paid up to 30 euros daily and had to pay other amounts to have mattresses or blankets. They were also charged between five and 10 euros to allow them to fully charge their mobile phones.
The investigations indicate that the two arrested were part of a larger organization that also offered migrants the possibility of irregularly moving to the peninsula in exchange for 6,000 euros. Those who showed interest received instructions “to hide and avoid contact with agents while waiting for the possibility” of traveling to the Andalusian coasts, according to the Police in a statement. The victims have reported receiving “death threats and coercion” to prevent them from identifying the members of the organization if intercepted by security forces.
In the case of the two detainees by the Civil Guard, the patera flat where they housed up to 25 migrants “in a very precarious way and with zero sanitary conditions,” as highlighted by the armed institute. In some video footage released, it is observed that the dwelling had a small entrance, a kitchen, and a bathroom, with a 1.80-meter-wide bed and two mattresses thrown on the floor. Neighbors had already noticed for at least two weeks a great flow of people and that they left the door ajar. The detainees, owners of the property, are accused of a crime against the rights of foreign citizens.
On Tuesday, a hair salon located in the El Morro neighborhood was also found to have employed two migrants who had entered irregularly on the days of the massive jump. The business owner, who has not been located, is accused of irregularly employing foreigners, while the migrants will be subject to the corresponding administrative procedure for their expulsion if applicable. Police sources warn of the consequences of all these types of illegal practices, which can endanger the physical integrity of the people they house, including minors, and encourage citizens to report to the authorities the places where these situations occur.
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