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Date Published: 26/07/2021
ARCHIVED - Three arrested for organising irregular immigrant boats to Andalusia
The three men located in Almería, Andalusía, were charging €2,000 for a place onboard the boats to Spain
The Policía Nacional in Almería have detained three men in connection with two boats full of irregular immigrants from Algeria, which attempted to reach the coasts of Andalusía earlier this month.
On July 18, a boat carrying 10 irregular immigrants was intercepted off the coast of Almería by the Maritime Rescue Services and, on July 20, another boat with 22 people onboard was also intercepted.
After carrying out the necessary Covid and health checks on the Algerian passengers, the police began investigating the incidents and discovered that three men had organised the trips and had charged each person €2,000 for a place on the boats.
Those who paid to travel to Spain were locked in a property in Orán (Algeria) for several days, before being transported to the Ain El Turk beach to board the boat on July 18. Two of the men onboard were identified as the people who had organised the trip.
Similarly, on the boat located on July 20, the man captaining the vehicle was found to be in charge of the operation.
All three men have now been arrested and charged with crimes against the rights of foreign citizens.
In the past it was common for Algerian migrants to buy a boat between them in which to make the trip, but in the last few years organised criminal gangs have taken on this role and earn considerable amounts of money arranging every aspect and every stage of the journey from Algeria into Europe.
In these kinds of illegal attempts to enter Spain, it is common for one or more of the people who organised the trip to be onboard the boat to navigate and steer and, in most cases, the irregular immigrants are told to say that the ship is being captained between everyone onboard to avoid revealing those responsible.
Dangerous attempts to enter Spain have become increasingly common and, last month, 80 immigrants were rescued from tumultuous waters in under 24 hours while trying to reach the coast of Andalusía.
IMAGE: Policia Nacional
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