The First Section of the Provincial Court will judge on November 21 and 22 six defendants accused of introducing immigrants in a boat that arrived at Playa Blanca in September 2013. The Prosecutor's Office requests a sentence of seven years in prison for all of them, plus another two and a half years only for one of the defendants for a crime against public health after finding 22.75 grams of hashish in the search of his home.
According to the indictment, "the defendants, acting in common agreement and motivated by the desire for external profit, organized the arrival of a boat to Spanish territory, charging between one million and two million dirhams to each of the immigrants, between approximately 20 and 25, all of them of legal age, in order to take them with them to the Canary coasts in a wooden boat of reduced size, knowing that they were violating the rules on entry into the national territory and that, once they arrived, they would be left to their fate, lacking any protection system to protect them."
The aforementioned boat arrived at Playa Blanca, in the La Calimera area, in the early morning of September 28 to 29 "with all the immigrants inside, thus achieving the desired purpose." According to the Prosecutor's Office, "the boat lacked any security system and life jackets," which put "the lives of the crew members in danger."
The defendant Mohammed E.M. "skippered" the boat, which left Asfi (Morocco), together with Zakarias G., according to the Public Prosecutor, while Rachid E.H.A. "was on land and was the person in charge of contacting one of the skippers" and "pointing out the most suitable point for disembarkation in order to evade the agents of the authority." He, along with two other defendants, Hichan E.H. and Faouzi E.Y. "were in charge of collecting and transporting the members of the boat to a house" in the El Partidos Urbanization of Playa Blanca, "the home of the defendant Mohammed E.M."
They managed the departure of immigrants to other parts of Spain
Once the immigrants were housed, Rachid E.H.A., Zakarias G., Hichan E.H. and Faouzi E.Y. "were in charge of guarding them and providing them with what was necessary for their stay." Later, Mohammed E.M. contacted "relatives of the people he had transported to Spanish territory to "provide them with an account number to deposit the amounts owed for the trip, as well as the amounts needed for the purchase of plane tickets" and "an address to send the passports" to "manage the departure of immigrants from Lanzarote to other parts of Spain."
"Once the amounts of money as well as the passports were received, the defendants were in charge of processing the purchase of plane tickets and physically transporting the immigrants to the airport in a rental vehicle. With all this, days after the disembarkation, several occupants of the boat managed to leave the island of Lanzarote, by air, to various points in Spain, such as Barcelona, where three of them were intercepted, and Bilbao," the indictment states, where a sixth defendant, Moustapha L., is mentioned.
More than 22 grams of hashish were seized in a search of a home
After investigations by the Immigration and Borders Brigade of the Arrecife Police Station, an entry and search was carried out on October 4 at the home of Mohamed E.M., as well as another home, located in the Campos de Playa Blanca Apartments, which they also used to "hide" the immigrants. There, 22.75 grams of hashish were found, "which Mohamed E.M. intended to sell to third parties, aware that his action generated the consequent risk to public health." The seized drug, according to the Prosecutor's Office, would have reached a price of 31,690.75 euros on the illicit market.
For these facts, Mohamed E.M., in addition to the seven years in prison requested for him for a crime against the rights of foreign citizens, is also facing two years and six months in prison and a fine of 63,381.50 euros for a crime against public health. The six defendants, who were in an irregular situation in Spain, were sent to provisional prison in October 2013.
