US embassy cable - 05MADRID1727

UNCLAS MADRID 001727 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, PREL, SP, FR, GA, CV, SG, PO 
SUBJECT: SPANISH POLICE REPORT 16 ARRESTS FOR TRAFFICKING 
CHILDREN THROUGH THE CANARY ISLANDS 
 
 
1.  All major Spanish dailies are reporting that Spanish 
National Police (SNP) authorities in the Canary Islands 
announced May 5 that 16 people from Spain and Cape Verde had 
been arrested on suspicion of trafficking children from the 
Cape Verde Islands through the Canary Islands to France.  The 
SNP reported that at least 179 minors were trafficked by the 
ring that sent children to France for prostitution, drug 
trafficking, and illegal adoption purposes.  The three-month 
"Operation Stork" investigation included staking out the Gran 
Canaria airport after weekly charter flights from Banjul, 
Gambia, aroused suspicion because some mothers had taken the 
flights with different children during different weeks. 
French Air and Border Police (PAF) also participated in the 
investigation. 
 
2.  According to the press reports, victims were taken from 
the Cape Verde Islands to Dakar, Senegal, where passports and 
identification cards were falsified with the apparent 
involvement of members of the Cape Verde Embassy in Senegal. 
Victims then traveled by highway to Banjul, Gambia, where the 
traffickers had connections with an air charter service to 
the Canary Islands.  Victims would then transfer to flights 
bound for Paris.  The traffickers would return to Cape Verde 
via Lisbon to avoid the Customs Authorities in the Canary 
Islands. 
MANZANARES