An international operation targeting criminal networks involved in migrant smuggling across the Mediterranean Sea and West African Atlantic route has resulted in 262 arrests and 434 new investigations, INTERPOL has announced.
Operation Communis Maris, conducted between October 5 and 8, 2026, also identified 109 potential victims of human trafficking and detected 1,715 irregular migrants.
According to INTERPOL, 221 of those arrested are suspected of migrant smuggling, 16 of human trafficking and 25 of other offences, including the production and use of fraudulent documents.
The four-day operation brought together law enforcement and border management agencies from 16 countries across North and West Africa, southern Europe and the Middle East.
Led by INTERPOL with operational support from Europol, Frontex, AFRIPOL, the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the operation sought to dismantle organised criminal networks, identify smugglers, protect vulnerable migrants and bring suspected perpetrators to justice.
A total of 7,660 officers participated in the operation, checking more than 378,000 people, monitoring migration hotspots and strengthening screening at key locations.
INTERPOL also deployed officials to an Operational Coordination Unit in Athens, Greece, to facilitate real-time intelligence sharing. Participating countries made 210,594 queries against INTERPOL databases during the operation.
INTERPOL’s Director of Organised and Emerging Crime, David Caunter, said migrant smugglers continued to exploit vulnerable people, exposing them to abuse, extortion and human trafficking while putting their lives at risk through dangerous sea crossings.
He said international cooperation was essential in identifying criminals, dismantling their networks and preventing further loss of life along migration routes.
During the operation, authorities intercepted several vessels carrying migrants across the region.
In southern Morocco, officials stopped a boat carrying 70 people, including 30 minors, who had reportedly spent six days at sea.
In another incident, Senegalese authorities alerted neighbouring countries about a vessel leaving their territorial waters. Mauritanian officials intercepted the wooden boat the following day, finding 80 passengers, including two children, and arresting three suspected organisers.
In Libya, authorities rescued 34 potential victims of human trafficking and arrested three people suspected of involvement in a criminal network engaged in human trafficking, migrant smuggling and extortion.
Other operations resulted in six arrests in Algeria over an alleged migrant-smuggling network, while authorities in Syria raided premises suspected of being used by smugglers, apprehending seven suspects and intercepting 22 irregular migrants.
Airport security operations also led to arrests in Cyprus and Greece over alleged attempts to use forged travel documents. In Morocco, one person was arrested on suspicion of supplying forged passports and recruiting people for irregular migration.
In France, police arrested six individuals suspected of money laundering, facilitating irregular migration and housing a vulnerable person in conditions incompatible with human dignity.
INTERPOL said investigators also identified 41 organised criminal groups involved in migrant smuggling and uncovered dozens of social media accounts, groups and posts advertising irregular migration and smuggling services.
The organisation said intelligence gathered during the operation, alongside the 434 investigations opened, could lead to further arrests in the coming weeks and months.
