Ceuta: ‘Muslim Man’ Detained After Police Discover ‘Horror House’ with 74 Exploited Migrants
Spanish police officers on Thursday arrested what local media outlets described as a “Muslim man” in Ceuta who allegedly housed and exploited 74 illegal migrants — including minors that show signs of physical abuse, in what has been locally described as a “Horror House.”
The shocking discovery stems from a broader anti-illegal migration operation in Ceuta’s El Principe neighborhood, leading to the arrest of an individual identified by El Mundo only as a “Muslim man” and a resident of the Spanish North African Exclave. Local outlets describe El Principe as one of the neighborhoods “most punished” by the continued presence of invading Moroccan migrants in the area.
It is understood that the detained man is believed to be the leader of a human trafficking network facilitating illegal migration into mainland Spain. The operation was carried out by agents of the Spanish National Police’s UCRIF anti-illegal migration and false documentation unit.
According to information detailed by the law enforcement officials, the arrested stands accused of harboring and exploiting 74 illegal migrants that entered the city during the late July mass migrant invasion of Ceuta. The migrants were housed in a precarious, unsanitary two-story residence with a single toilet and no shower, where the arrested man subjected the migrants to intimidation, violence, and exploitation. Spanish police officials detailed that the man housed the migrants in the residence waiting for the right opportunity to traffic them into mainland Spanish territory.
Of the total, 54 are adult men, ten women, and ten minor children — some of whom allegedly present evidence of physical abuse.
The migrants were charged a daily fee of between 10 to 20 euros, which allowed the detained man to pocket over 1,000 euros every day. The investigations determined that most of the migrants dwelled through the streets of Ceuta during the day, and returned to the shanty residence past midnight.
Per El Mundo, the man did not charge said fees to one of the women, who was allegedly made to sleep with him instead.
“Police investigations have revealed evidence that some minors living in the building may have been victims of physical assaults, including injuries caused by dog bites,” law enforcement sources told El Faro de Ceuta.
In addition to charging daily fees to stay in the overcrowded shanty residence, the detained man stands accused of exploiting the illegal migrants through forced labor, including the minors.
“Several of them worked on construction sites he managed, where their only payment was a snack, and they were charged less for the night,” a source close to the investigation told El Mundo.
UCRIF warned Ceuta residents that they will detain “anyone who might try to commit crimes by taking advantage of the fact that these people are here undocumented and without a clear future.”
Over the past weeks, Spanish law enforcement agents have discovered multiple instances of illegal migrants being housed at Ceuta residences in an effort to avoid being located, identified, and eventually deported from Spain after the late July invasion. Local outlets, however, emphasized that the “Horror House” discovered on Thursday is now the largest known case to date.
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