Charlie Smith
SPAIN will remove the razor wire on border fences in northern Africa in an attempt to prevent injuries to the thousands of migrants who cross into Spanish territory.
Pedro Sanchez’s Socialist government are targeting the autonomous Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla, which lie on Morocco’s Mediterranean coastline and are known as particular migrant hotspots.
The plan is to replace razor wire with ‘smart’ sensors to track the numbers of migrants entering Spanish territory, although there is no fixed date for when this will take place.
Police estimate that around 3,000 African migrants are currently gathered in camps up in the Moroccan hills close to the two cities.
Once there they are then organised by people traffickers, who get them to charge the fences, leaving many migrants and police injured.
The Unit Against Illegal Immigration are the Spanish police squad who work with Africa and Europe on the issue.
A police source referred to the numbers of those crossing as an ‘avalanche’ and said: “For the police it is like when you see the shops about to open their doors for sales and there are thousands of people waiting to burst through.”
Spain is the leading destination for migrants in Europe, with 40,598 arrivals already this year, with Andalucia bearing the brunt of this.
On the western Mediterranean route to Spain 420 migrants died this year while making the crossing.
