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Spanish police arrest 43 in crackdown on migrant worker exploitation

Spanish police said Thursday they have broken up a criminal group that exploited undocumented migrant workers in the agricultural sector, mainly from Morocco, and sold them false documents.

Published: 5 January 2023 14:59 CET
Spanish police arrest 43 in crackdown on migrant worker exploitation
Photo: JOSE LUIS ROCA/AFP

Officers arrested 43 people in the southern province of Malaga suspected of belonging to the ring, which charged illegal migrants up to 3,000 euros ($3,200) for fake work contracts to allow them to regularise their status, police said in a statement.

“Some of the migrants were housed in inhumane conditions in houses belonging to the organisation,” it added.

A video released by police showed a cramped room with decrepit walls and a small single bed that was used to house migrants.

At least seven agricultural firms are believed to have taken part in the scheme dedicated to the “labour exploitation” of Moroccan nationals, the statement added.

Spain is a key gateway into Europe for illegal migration from Africa although arrival numbers decreased last year.

A total of 31,219 people entered Spain without permission last year, mainly by boat from Morocco — a drop of 25.6 percent over 2021, according to interior ministry figures.

About 800,000 Moroccans legally live in Spain, making it the biggest foreign population in the country, according to national statistics institute INE figures.

Migrant workers face a higher risk of forced labour than other workers, according to the UN International Labour Organization (ILO).

“The forced labour prevalence of adult migrant workers is more than three times higher than that of adult non-migrant workers,” it wrote in a September 2022 report.

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CRIME

Mick Jagger’s daughter fined after Ibiza police incident

Jade Jagger, daughter of Rolling Stones legend Mick Jagger, was ordered Friday to pay a 1,400-euro ($1,500) fine after her arrest for allegedly assaulting a Spanish policewoman, court documents and police said.

Published: 20 May 2023 10:06 CEST
Mick Jagger's daughter fined after Ibiza police incident

The incident occurred on Wednesday evening when police were called to investigate an incident at a restaurant in Ibiza Town, the island’s capital, a statement from the Balearic Islands branch of the SUP police union said.

Following a confrontation, police arrested Jagger, 51, and her male companion, the union said.

At a hearing on Friday, the judge ordered Jagger to pay “a four-month daily fine of 10 euros per day for resisting arrest, and a 20-day fine of 10 euros for causing minor injury,” a court statement said.

It also said she must “pay the victim 800 euros” in compensation.

The court handed her companion “four months of prison for assaulting a figure of authority”.

According to the union, restaurant staff had called the police to report a male customer “insulting and threatening customers and staff” who appeared to be either “drunk or under the influence of drugs”.

When they arrived, the police asked for his details but he “refused, ignoring police instructions and finally assaulting several of them”, it said.

Jagger had “rushed at a policewoman and attacked her, causing her several physical injuries”, prompting police to arrest the pair, it added.

“You cannot attack police with impunity,” the SUP said, indicating it was filing a complaint against her.

Jade Jagger is a jewellery designer and the second daughter of the 79-year-old Rolling Stones frontman, who has eight children, the youngest of whom is six.

She is Jagger’s only daughter with his first wife, the Nicaraguan model and human rights campaigner Bianca Jagger, whom he married in 1971 and divorced eight years later.

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