10 Jul, 2020 @ 16:22
1 min read

28 arrested in Spain for smuggling migrants from Morocco to the Canary Islands in rubber boats

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MIGRANTS: Africa to the Canaries

SPANISH police have arrested 28 people who were part of a ring that smuggled migrants to the Canary Islands in rubber boats.

The operation, which was backed by Europol, saw 150 Policia Nacional raid properties in Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, El Hierro, Ibiza, Castellon and Calatayud.

Investigators believe that the gang had already ferried 20 boatloads of migrants from Morocco to the Spanish islands at a profit of around €350,000.

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MIGRANTS: Africa to the Canaries

Police say the migrants were lucky to survive the perilous crossing as the boats were flimsy, underpowered, frequently overloaded and had no safety measures.

Once landed on Spanish soil, the hundreds of migrants involved were put in temporary accommodation before being routed towards their final destinations.

The operation prevented the departure of eight boats which would have carried a total of around 200 migrants, each paying up to €2,000.

The Olive Press has previously reported that the number of migrants arriving to the Canary Islands in the first half of this year has increased six-fold compared to the same period in 2019.

Dilip Kuner

Dilip Kuner is a NCTJ-trained journalist whose first job was on the Folkestone Herald as a trainee in 1988.
He worked up the ladder to be chief reporter and sub editor on the Hastings Observer and later news editor on the Bridlington Free Press.
At the time of the first Gulf War he started working for the Sunday Mirror, covering news stories as diverse as Mick Jagger’s wedding to Jerry Hall (a scoop gleaned at the bar at Heathrow Airport) to massive rent rises at the ‘feudal village’ of Princess Diana’s childhood home of Althorp Park.
In 1994 he decided to move to Spain with his girlfriend (now wife) and brought up three children here.
He initially worked in restaurants with his father, before rejoining the media world in 2013, working in the local press before becoming a copywriter for international firms including Accenture, as well as within a well-known local marketing agency.
He joined the Olive Press as a self-employed journalist during the pandemic lock-down, becoming news editor a few months later.
Since then he has overseen the news desk and production of all six print editions of the Olive Press and had stories published in UK national newspapers and appeared on Sky News.

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