MADRID: Spanish police have dismantled a criminal network that trafficked migrant minors from the Canary Islands to France, arresting 11 people, authorities said Thursday.
The investigation began after 14 minors went missing from youth care centers on the islands of Lanzarote and Gran Canaria, Spain’s National Police said in a statement.
In May 2025, officers stopped a Mauritanian man at Lanzarote airport as he attempted to board a flight to Madrid with what appeared to be three minors.
Police arrested the man and one of the alleged minors, who was actually of legal age, after discovering the minors were under the ward of a youth care center on the island.
An investigation then uncovered a “well-organized network” with logistics in Morocco, contacts in the Ivory Coast for falsified documents, and facilities in Spain to temporarily house minors before they were taken to France.
Two homes in Lanzarote were searched, and authorities seized documents, electronic devices and cash.
Nine suspects were arrested in total in Lanzarote, and one each in Madrid and Gran Canaria.
They face charges including document forgery, child abduction, involvement in a criminal organization and child pornography.
Police are still searching for the missing minors.
They face charges including document forgery, child abduction, involvement in a criminal organization and child pornography.
Spain is one of three main entry points for irregular migrants into Europe, alongside Italy and Greece.
The Canary Islands, off northwest Africa, are a key gateway, with nearly 47,000 migrants arriving last year — a record for the second consecutive year — though arrivals are down this year.
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Spain police smash ring smuggling migrant minors to France
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Spain police smash ring smuggling migrant minors to France
- The investigation began after 14 minors went missing from youth care centers
- An investigation then uncovered a “well-organized network” with logistics in Morocco
Pandas and ping-pong: Macron ending China visit on lighter note
CHENGDU: An ancient dam, pandas and ping-pong: French leader Emmanuel Macron concluded his fourth state visit to China on Friday in the southwestern city of Chengdu, striking a more relaxed note after tough discussions on Ukraine and trade with his counterpart Xi Jinping a day earlier.
Far from the imposing Great Hall of the People in Beijing where the two leaders held talks, Xi and First Lady Peng Liyuan showed Macron and his wife Brigitte around the centuries-old Dujiangyan Dam, a World Heritage Site set against the mountainous landscape of Sichuan province.
Macron, who was earlier filmed going for a morning jog near a lake alongside his security detail, was told through an interpreter about the ancient irrigation system, which dates back to the third century BC and continues to provide water to the Sichuan Basin plain.
The French president said he was “very touched” by the gesture, a departure from official protocol. He had previously hosted Xi in the Pyrenees — where he had spent time as a child — in May 2024.
Macron said the trip was a sign of mutual trust and a desire to “act together” at a time when international tensions are rising and trade imbalances are widening to China’s advantage.
The two presidential couples will part ways after a lunch, with the Macrons continuing the trip independently.
- Panda diplomacy -
Macron is meeting with students in Chengdu, China’s fourth-largest city with 21 million inhabitants that is considered one of the most culturally and socially open in China.
Brigitte Macron, meanwhile, will visit the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, where two 17-year-old pandas, loaned to France in 2012 as part of China’s “panda diplomacy,” have just returned.
There, she will meet Yuan Meng, the first giant panda born in France in 2017, to whom she is “Godmother,” and who arrived in China in 2023.
The forests of Sichuan are home to numerous protected species, from snow leopards to giant pandas.
Through loans to zoos, China has made these bears emblematic ambassadors of its friendship with peoples from Japan to Germany.
Cubs born abroad are sent a few years later to Chengdu to participate in breeding and rehabilitation programs in the wild.
For his part, the French president will meet table tennis brothers Alexis and Felix Lebrun, stars of the 2024 Paris Olympics, who are in China for the Mixed Team Table Tennis World Cup.
- Tentative Signals -
On Thursday in Beijing, the French president urged his Chinese counterpart to work toward ending the war in Ukraine and to correct the trade imbalances with France and Europe.
China regularly calls for peace talks and respect for the territorial integrity of all countries, but has never condemned Russia for its 2022 invasion.
Western governments accuse Beijing of providing Russia with crucial economic support for its war effort, notably by supplying it with military components for its defense industry, something Beijing denies.
Emmanuel Macron’s call for increased Chinese investment in France appears to have been heeded.
A letter of intent to this effect was signed on Thursday, with Xi Jinping stating his readiness to “increase reciprocal investments” for a “fair trading environment.”
Far from the imposing Great Hall of the People in Beijing where the two leaders held talks, Xi and First Lady Peng Liyuan showed Macron and his wife Brigitte around the centuries-old Dujiangyan Dam, a World Heritage Site set against the mountainous landscape of Sichuan province.
Macron, who was earlier filmed going for a morning jog near a lake alongside his security detail, was told through an interpreter about the ancient irrigation system, which dates back to the third century BC and continues to provide water to the Sichuan Basin plain.
The French president said he was “very touched” by the gesture, a departure from official protocol. He had previously hosted Xi in the Pyrenees — where he had spent time as a child — in May 2024.
Macron said the trip was a sign of mutual trust and a desire to “act together” at a time when international tensions are rising and trade imbalances are widening to China’s advantage.
The two presidential couples will part ways after a lunch, with the Macrons continuing the trip independently.
- Panda diplomacy -
Macron is meeting with students in Chengdu, China’s fourth-largest city with 21 million inhabitants that is considered one of the most culturally and socially open in China.
Brigitte Macron, meanwhile, will visit the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, where two 17-year-old pandas, loaned to France in 2012 as part of China’s “panda diplomacy,” have just returned.
There, she will meet Yuan Meng, the first giant panda born in France in 2017, to whom she is “Godmother,” and who arrived in China in 2023.
The forests of Sichuan are home to numerous protected species, from snow leopards to giant pandas.
Through loans to zoos, China has made these bears emblematic ambassadors of its friendship with peoples from Japan to Germany.
Cubs born abroad are sent a few years later to Chengdu to participate in breeding and rehabilitation programs in the wild.
For his part, the French president will meet table tennis brothers Alexis and Felix Lebrun, stars of the 2024 Paris Olympics, who are in China for the Mixed Team Table Tennis World Cup.
- Tentative Signals -
On Thursday in Beijing, the French president urged his Chinese counterpart to work toward ending the war in Ukraine and to correct the trade imbalances with France and Europe.
China regularly calls for peace talks and respect for the territorial integrity of all countries, but has never condemned Russia for its 2022 invasion.
Western governments accuse Beijing of providing Russia with crucial economic support for its war effort, notably by supplying it with military components for its defense industry, something Beijing denies.
Emmanuel Macron’s call for increased Chinese investment in France appears to have been heeded.
A letter of intent to this effect was signed on Thursday, with Xi Jinping stating his readiness to “increase reciprocal investments” for a “fair trading environment.”
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