The First Section of the Provincial Court will try next Tuesday in Gran Canaria two alleged skippers of a boat that was intercepted in waters of Lanzarote on April 1, 2018, for whom the Prosecutor's Office requests a sentence of eight years in prison.
The Public Prosecutor considers that M.D. and N.E.C., both in provisional prison for this cause since April 19, 2018, agreed "with other unidentified people and "moved by the desire for foreign profit, charged various amounts of money to 16 immigrants to take them with them to the Canary coasts, knowing that they were violating the rules on entry into the national territory and that once they arrived, they would be in an irregular situation in Spain".
The boat, according to the indictment, left the coast of Asfi (Morocco) and was intercepted by Maritime Rescue at about 2:00 p.m. on April 1 about 70 miles north of Lanzarote with all the immigrants inside. And, according to the Prosecutor's Office, "the accused were skippering the aforementioned boat from its departure, in Asfir (Morocco), until its arrival on the coasts of the island of Lanzarote, helping each other with a GPS device." The boat, it adds, "lacked any security system, as well as life jackets, thereby endangering the lives of the immigrants."
The Public Prosecutor considers that the narrated facts constitute a crime against the rights of foreign citizens and therefore requests a sentence of eight years in prison for each of them "paying the time that the defendants have been deprived of liberty for this cause." The boat, as reported at the time, was intercepted after passengers on the ferry 'Volcán del Teide', which covers the route between Huelva and Lanzarote, saw the boat and gave the warning.
