A total of 75 people were arrested on Saturday in a joint operation by Spanish and French police in an operation against a network of people traffickers dedicated to smuggling, the Spanish Ministry of the Interior confirmed.

Among the arrested, 51 of them were made in Spain and the remaining 24 in France, with the Ministry informing that among those detained are the organizers of the network which was based in Barcelona and which charged between 40,000-50,000 euros (53,400-66,700U.S. dollars) to transport their 'clients' to the United States or European countries such as Spain, France, Greece, Italy, Great Britain, Ireland and Turkey.

The investigated has been ongoing into the people smuggling ring since 2011. Besides the 75 arrests, police have also confiscated 81 false passports from countries such as Korea, Malaysia, Japan, and Singapore.

Of the 51 arrests in Spain, two of those detained are thought to be those with maximum responsibility for the network, while the remaining 49 were arrested in different Spanish airports. The majority were arrested in Barcelona, but there were also detentions in Madrid, Girona, Alicante, Mahon (Menorca), Malaga, Palma de Mallorca and Reus, which is south of Barcelona.