Two boats carrying migrants have arrived on the Alicante coast in recent days, carrying a total of 49 migrants of various nationalities, ten of whom are minors. The National Police have arrested one person, the captain of one of the boats, and two others from the second vessel, on charges of facilitating illegal immigration and belonging to a criminal organisation.
The first boat was located on Sunday, 19th July, about 25 miles from the island of Tabarca. On board were twenty people of Algerian origin, including five minors and three women, and all of them were transferred to the port of Alicante by the Maritime Service of the Guardia Civil.
Once at the Temporary Foreigners’ Detention Centre (CATE) set up in the port, the National Police processed the corresponding paperwork for those rescued. Likewise, agents from Group III of the Unit against Immigration Networks and Document Fraud (UCRIF) identified and arrested the person who captained the boat, and he was remanded in custody on Tuesday after appearing before a judge.
The second boat was rescued Tuesday morning, 21st July, 50 miles off Alicante by the Salvamar Leo vessel of the Maritime Rescue Service. Early in the morning, a report was received of a boat sighted about 30 miles from Calpe, and its 29 occupants were rescued and taken to the port of Alicante.
This boat carried five minors, two of them unaccompanied, three women, and the rest adult men. Unlike the previous boat, the migrants on this precarious vessel were of sub-Saharan origin, from countries such as Mali and Niger.
Several of the rescued migrants required medical attention after arriving at the port of Alicante. They had apparently been at sea for five or six days, and some had drunk seawater.
UCRIF investigators, as they do with all the boats that arrive in Alicante, have been carrying out inquiries this Wednesday to identify those responsible for the crossing and have arrested two citizens of Niger as the captains of the vessel.
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