The National Police has arrested five people for an alleged crime of facilitating illegal immigration. The detainees would be involved in the arrival of two different boats of immigrants to the Canary Islands, specifically a boat that arrived in Lanzarote on December 30 with 41 people on board and another that arrived in Gran Canaria on January 13, with 23 passengers.
In relation to the boat that arrived in Lanzarote, three people have been arrested and one of them held an "executive" position in the organization, since he was "responsible for accounting and collecting the amounts that immigrants had to pay to access the boats", according to the Police.
After the arrival of that boat in Lanzarote, the Foreign Affairs officials of the Superior Headquarters of the Canary Islands Police began the investigation, in order to clarify what happened. Thus, they verified that the boat that arrived on the island, an 8-meter-long zodiac, was the first of these characteristics that was intercepted in the islands.
The Police has explained that this fact alerted them to the possibility that the mafia organizations that operate on the coast of Morocco, mainly in El Aaiún, "were looking for new ways to introduce immigrants clandestinely into the Canary Islands".
The investigations led to the arrest of two of the occupants of the zodiac, of Senegalese nationality, as responsible for the commission of a crime of "facilitating Illegal Immigration". They were the people in charge of crewing and directing the boat, "in connivance with the bulk of the organization located in Western Sahara", the Police points out.
Likewise, a third person was later arrested, also accused of the crime of "criminal organization". This man was "camouflaged" with the rest of the immigrants and had been sent to the Foreigners Internment Center. According to the police, he was precisely the one who held a "superior and managerial position in the organization, to the extent that, from the information obtained by the investigators, it is presumed that his main function, in addition to participating in the preparation of the departure of the boats and others of a logistical type in Africa, was to account for and collect the amounts that immigrants had to pay to reach a place on each boat". The amounts they had to pay for it ranged between 300 and 1,500 euros per person.
Second boat in Gran Canaria
A few days later, on January 13, a new boat occupied by 23 people arrived on the coasts of the island of Gran Canaria. After carrying out the pertinent investigations, the Police proceeded to arrest two citizens of Senegalese origin as alleged perpetrators of a crime of "facilitating Illegal Immigration", for their participation in the arrival of this boat.
After processing the reports by the Provincial Brigade of Immigration and Borders of Las Palmas, all the detainees have been placed at the disposal of the corresponding courts. Their entry into provisional prison has been decreed for all of them, and they face sentences of more than four years in prison.
The Police emphasizes in its statement that "the criminal reproach that these behaviors present must be taken into account, to the extent that the vital risk that immigrants bear to access Spain is very high due to the circumstances of the trip, to which are added the terrible conditions and the contempt for the personal dignity of the criminal network that organizes these expeditions, which usually does not offer immigrants life jackets, food or sufficient drink to face said journey".
