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Date Published: 07/10/2021
ARCHIVED - Two members of immigration mafia arrested in Cartagena
The men used a stolen boat to transport over 30 irregular immigrants to Cartagena, Murcia
Two men, aged 25 and 33, have been arrested by the Guardia Civil after they were caught trying to smuggle 32 irregular immigrants into Spain via Cartagena.
Officers from the Provincial Maritime Service of the Guardia Civil spotted the suspicious-looking boat at the end of September and after closer inspection, they realised that the boat was carrying over 30 passengers, despite being only eight metres long.
The two men captaining the boat initiated a dangerous escape attempt when they spotted the police boat, endangering all of the passengers by carrying out risky manoeuvres at high speeds on a boat which was carrying at least three times its recommended weight limit.
However, officers were able to catch up to the boat, which was transported along with its occupants to the Puerto de Escombreras in Cartagena. Of the 34 passengers on the boat, 32 were migrants from the north of Africa who were attempting to enter Spain illegally, while the remaining two men were the people in charge of the boat, who have now been charged with the crime of facilitating illegal immigration.
In addition, the boat was inspected after officers realised that the vessel didn’t fit the usual description for a patera (boats used by migrants) and the Guardia Civil were able to determine that it had been reported stolen three days prior in the Alicante municipality of Villajoyosa, despite the fact that most of the series numbers had been rubbed off by the criminals.
These recent arrests are a step towards putting a stop to the influx of irregular migrants arriving on Spain’s coastline, but the ‘immigration mafias’ are still operational and just last week, more than 200 migrants reached Murcia in just two days. Although many of the immigrants survive the dangerous boat trip to Spain, there are others who aren’t so lucky, as many of the pateras provided by criminal organisations are barely seaworthy, leading to many unnecessary deaths.
Image: Guardia Civil
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