The Diario de Noticias is reporting that a small family business suspected to have carried around 500 immigrants, mainly from France to Portugal, has been dismantled by French police, security forces announced today.
Last weekend, four people were detained in the Paris region for “helping the entry, movement and irregular stay of a foreigner in France.”
Police had learned in May 2016 that more than 20 people of irregular Indian or Pakistani origin were taken aboard a truck driven by a Frenchwoman of Portuguese origin from La Courneuve (Seine-Saint-Denis, )on the outskirts of Paris) to Portugal.
The investigation revealed the “existence of a family structure that transited” immigrants from France to other Schengen countries, such as Spain and especially Portugal.
The organizer of this structure had as helpers his companion and his son to make the trips. The three were indicted and arrested, according to police.
According to the information obtained, the security forces believe that only between January and June 2016, 26 trips were made between France and Portugal. Last year, they estimate that it would have been approximately 60 trips in total, with 530 immigrants, to win about 132 thousand euros.