Spanish police said Wednesday they had uncovered a racket in which babies born to needy mothers in Morocco and the Spanish north African enclave of Melilla were sold to wealthy families in Spain during the 1970s and 1980s.

Police have identified 28 cases where newborns were taken from their mothers and sold to families in mainland Spain who could not have children, for between 1,200 and 6,000 euros ($1,600 and $8,000), police said in a statement.

Spanish King Juan Carlos's daughter Cristina won respite in a corruption case on Tuesday when a court spared her for the time being from being questioned as a suspect in the scandal.

The affair has plunged Spain's monarchy into an unprecedented crisis, sapped its popularity in the polls, and has raised speculation that Juan Carlos may abdicate.

France said Tuesday it had arrested six members of ETA, as authorities continue to hunt down those who belong to the Basque separatist group over a year after it ended all armed activity.

The arrests come after a suspected top commander of ETA -- considered a terrorist group by the European Union and United States -- got a life sentence in April for the 2007 murder of two Spanish police officers in France.

Spanish police have seized 52 tonnes of hashish, a European record, and arrested three people as part of an investigation into a drug trafficking ring, police said Monday.

The drugs were found at an industrial warehouse in the southern city of Cordoba stored in 1,700 individual packages which each weighed about 30 kilos, police said in a statement.

Spanish and Moroccan emergency services on Saturday rescued 66 African immigrants trying to cross the Strait of Gibraltar in flimsy boats.

A spokesman for maritime emergency services in Tarifa on the southern tip of Spain told Agence France Presse that nine men had been rescued by Spanish authorities and another 57 people by Morocco.

Spanish police on Saturday said a giant drug ring has been busted in Spain and the Netherlands, leading to the arrest of 21 people and the seizure of some 13,000 marijuana plants.

The justice ministry announced the seizure in a statement, saying it was one of Spain's biggest successes in the fight against drugs on record.

A government agency poll indicates the Spanish monarchy's popularity rating has plunged to unprecedented levels.

The Center for Sociological Research said Friday that on a scale from 0 to 10, those questioned for its April survey rated the royal family at 3.68, down from 4.89 in October, 2011, the last time the question was asked.

Spanish police announced Friday they have seized a massive 32 tonnes of hashish hidden in a truck transporting melons from Morocco, one of the largest hauls on record in Spain.

Police found the hashish, with an estimated street value of 50 million euros ($65 million), when they searched a refrigerated truck carrying melons from the Moroccan port of Tangiers.

Spanish police detained 25 suspects and charged another 16 for possessing and distributing videos over the Internet that showed young children and infants being sexually abused which were likely filmed in countries with a thriving sex tourism, police said Monday.

Over 200 police took part in the operation which involved searches in 18 provinces and the seizure of 136 hard drives, eight laptops, 594 CDs and DVDs and four pen drives, police said in a statement.

A Spanish judge Friday remanded in custody a suspected al-Qaida militant accused of links to extremists in Mali and bailed another man on the same charges, the court said.

Judge Santiago Pedraz ordered Nouh Mediouni, 23, to be held in custody as a flight risk on charges of "membership of a terrorist organization", according to a written ruling from the National Court.