The Guardia Civil dismantled a network accused of targeting vulnerable migrant minors in Gran Canaria, rescuing six girls and arresting five suspects. Investigators say the group recruited girls at the Firgas reception center with false promises of work in France, then arranged their travel to Paris, where they were allegedly sexually exploited.
The investigation began after one of the girls, persuaded by a fellow resident to leave the center in late November 2024, escaped her captors in Paris and contacted her former educator in Bilbao. Her testimony, which is protected, helped investigators identify the network’s methods and other potential victims. Information from the Guardia Civil, the girls were minors from sub-Saharan Africa who had arrived in Spain by boat, without family support and with limited Spanish-language skills.
Investigators say the group supplied forged passports that identified the girls as adults and arranged flights via mainland Spain to France. Some were asked to pay small sums for the documents. In France, the girls were allegedly confined and exploited, with no freedom to leave. The operation, named Jabany, uncovered what investigators describe as a division of roles: a leader known as Baba and his partner, both legally resident in Spain, allegedly oversaw logistics; a minor living at the center recruited other girls; and two other suspects produced false documents. One allegedly used his restaurant as a handover point.
The investigation accelerated in March 2025, when four girls attempting to leave Gran Canaria with forged documents were intercepted at the airport. The interception temporarily disrupted the network, but another minor disappeared in late June. On 29 June, coordinated searches in Arucas and other locations led to the arrest of all five suspects. Officers seized evidence that included documents, photographs of minors and electronic devices, along with cash and a stolen Mauritanian passport. Investigators are examining whether other girls reported missing from the center may also have been targeted. The arrests are part of a criminal investigation and do not, by themselves, determine guilt.
The alleged route involved both movement across borders and exploitation. In European law, migrant smuggling concerns facilitating irregular entry or movement, while human trafficking centers on exploitation. The allegations in this case include false job offers and forged identity documents, as well as confinement and sexual exploitation. A separate Gran Canaria investigation, Operation Íncubo, also concerned the alleged recruitment and sexual exploitation of minors under the island authorities’ protection. In an earlier, distinct case, the Guardia Civil investigated arrangements that allegedly enabled minors to leave Gran Canaria using supplied documentation; three people were arrested, one was investigated, and more than 60 journeys were reportedly arranged. These cases do not establish that the same people or networks were involved.
The case has unfolded against sustained pressure on the Canary Islands’ child-protection system. A report published in 2026 put the number of migrant minors under regional guardianship at 2,614 and said 629 had arrived in the islands so far that year. The same report, citing the International Organization for Migration, said 86% of children who arrived in Spain by land or sea in 2025 were without a parent or responsible adult. The Canary Islands received about 47,000 arrivals in 2024 and around 18,000 in 2025. Those figures illustrate the scale of the reception challenge but do not establish a direct link to Operation Jabany. Regional government official Alfonso Cabello described the pressure on the system as “completely unsustainable.”
The distribution of unaccompanied minors among Spain’s autonomous communities has also become a political and administrative issue. Changes to Article 35 of Spain’s Organic Law on the Rights and Freedoms of Foreigners created a mechanism for relocating minors between regions. Canary Islands President Fernando Clavijo has defended transfers from the islands to other parts of Spain and said migration policy “must combine the protection of human rights with the necessary legal modifications.” In a separate discussion of arrivals, the Government delegate in the Canary Islands, José Antonio Pestana, described the decline as “planned.”
The arrests come amid wider debate over care for unaccompanied minors, including disputes about how new arrivals are distributed and which regions accept them. The situation echoes earlier tensions, including those in Mallorca during royal events, when attention focused on institutional responses to vulnerable groups. For example, the shift in protocol at the Marivent Palace reception highlighted how changes in tradition can prompt broader discussions about social responsibility and public policy.
Spain remains a major point of arrival for people seeking to reach Europe, and the Canary Islands are often the first stop for those arriving by sea. The Jabany investigation highlights the protection risks faced by unaccompanied minors in reception facilities and the need for safeguards against recruitment and trafficking, alongside coordination among child-protection authorities and law-enforcement agencies across borders.
