EU police: Migrant smuggling network smashed

European Union police agency Europol says it has helped break up a criminal network that had been working for 10 years to smuggle migrants into Europe and provide them with false identification documents.

Europol said in a statement Wednesday that seven alleged members of the gang, including its suspected leader, were arrested in Spain and one in Greece as a result of a coordinated series of raids on houses in late March.

Europol said the gang operated its own document forgery factory in Greece, a country that for years was the main entry point for migrants from the Mideast and Africa trying to reach Europe.

Raids in Spain, Greece and Belgium uncovered 100,000 euros in cash, documents, data storage devices and mobile phones. [AP]