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The migrants undertook the treacherous journey to Murcia in tiny, ill-equipped boats
The National Police in the Region of Murcia has arrested seven men, one of them a minor, for captaining boats responsible for transporting 200 migrants in treacherous conditions from Africa to the area’s coasts. The skippers were reportedly part of a larger organisation which used small fiberglass boats with low-power engines to traverse the 120 nautical miles between Algeria and Cartagena.
Officers questioned the hundreds of irregular immigrants that arrived on the Murcia coast and found that they were of several different nationalities: Algerian, Moroccan, Syrian and Tunisian. The journey they undertook was extremely dangerous, not least because in some cases, 15 or more people were crammed into tiny, ill-equipped boats.
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The vessels, known as pateras, were only around five metres in length and lacked even the most basic safety measures such as life vests, flares or radio transmitters.
To fuel the journey, the captains carried several cans of petrol on the boats, creating an obvious fire risk. Six of the seven arrested skippers, all of Algerian nationality, have received prison sentences from the Murcia courts while the minor has been sent to a reform centre.
The National Police of the Region of Murcia has since reinforced security measures on the coast to deal with the arrival of migrant boats and fight against human traffickers.
Image: Archive
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