Former Red Cross photographer extorted families of dead migrants

The gang allegedly charged up to €10,000 to send the body home. Photo: Guardia Civil

Mr Clemente is believed to have played a crucial role in providing information about the departure of boats from the Moroccan and Algerian coasts, establishing contacts with traffickers over more than five years of blogging about migration routes in the Western Mediterranean.

Mr Clemente first came into contact with the phenomenon of migration while working for the Red Cross in 2018.

Two years later he created his own blog, Héroes del mar (Heroes of the Sea) on Twitter and Facebook, using VHF radios to monitor coast guard transmissions so he could be first on the scene when the migrants were brought ashore.

El País newspaper reported that a witness told investigators that Mr. Clemente will contact families in North Africa and demand payment if they want their money back. regarding «not having problems in Spain.»

She said he had bragged about bribing judges and police officers to prevent immigrants from going to prison.

Mr Clemente claimed that it was collaborating with the non-governmental organization Center International for the Identification of Missing Migrants (CIPIMD), which provides assistance to families whose members have died as a result of migration attempts.

CIPIMD on Thursday issued a statement denying that there was an investigation and emphasizes that its policy is to constantly cooperate with the police and security services.

14 of those arrested and one other person are accused of belonging to a criminal organization, fraud, falsification of documents, bribery and other crimes. Two were taken into custody, the rest were released on bail.