A man of Senegalese nationality has been arrested as the alleged organizer of the two boats that arrived this year in the Canary Islands from Mauritania. According to the Civil Guard, the operation began as a result of information provided by the newly created "mixed land patrol", based in Nouadhibou (Mauritania), in which the Civil Guard participates together with Gendarmerie personnel from that country.
The detainee was wanted since the Mauritanian Police arrested an accomplice of his in October, following the complaint of two immigrants. These would have made the decision "in retaliation, after being discarded by the organization to make the trip in the first boat that arrived in Spain, having made the payment (currently between 800 and 900 euros)".
In a statement, the Civil Guard explains that this network was in charge of the entire process, from recruiting immigrants, to housing them before boarding, taking them to the place of departure and transporting them, "their main objective being sub-Saharan people residing in said capital, and more specifically the Khairan neighborhood, known in this city as a meeting place for candidates for immigration since the boat crisis".
After two months of searching, he was finally arrested at a border post, in the town of Chelkha (about 170 kilometers from Nouadhibou), "just before leaving the country trying to evade the action of Justice".
From the Civil Guard they explain that this reinforcement to the permanent deployment in Mauritania that they maintain (composed of a helicopter, two patrol boats, a liaison officer and support personnel) "has been carried out with the aim of increasing the obtaining of information, the investigation and thus prevent a rebound in immigration created by the instability of the region after the Arab Spring".
Currently, its actions, as well as those of the rest of the West African coastal countries, are coordinated from the Canary Islands, by the CCRC. "This center is a European pioneer in the concept of centralization of information and actions related to the fight against trafficking in human beings and immigrants, both in national territory and in countries of origin, through African police liaison officers", underlines the Civil Guard, which adds that "it was created by Spain as support for the Coordination Authority for Immigration to the Canary Islands and has been fundamental in the design of Frontex international operations from the beginning, based on Operation Hera".
