Police in Spain bust network accused of trafficking migrant girls

MADRID - Spanish police said on Aug 11 they had dismantled a criminal ring accused of recruiting unaccompanied migrant girls from care centres on Gran Canaria, in Spain’s Canary Islands, and moving them to mainland Spain and France, where some were sexually exploited.The operation comes as migration debates have returned to the forefront across Europe after a mass border crossing from Morocco into Spain’s north African enclave of Ceuta in July left hundreds of unaccompanied minors stranded in the city.The Guardia Civil said the investigation began after a migrant girl who had been under the care of authorities in Gran Canaria returned to Spain from France and told investigators she had been recruited with the promise of a job.Investigators subsequently identified several similar cases invo