Police and Civil Guard agents have arrested three people – two men and a woman – accused of causing the death of five migrants almost four months ago by throwing them from a narcolancha in an area of strong sea currents off the coast of Cádiz. The traffickers, who have been arrested between the provinces of Cádiz and Granada, forced the deceased – along with another twenty migrants – to jump, intimidating them with a machete, on a trip from Kenitra (Morocco) that ended fatally in the area of Sancti Petri (between Chiclana and San Fernando). The suspects, two of them with a history of drug trafficking, are now investigated for homicide, membership in a criminal organization, crimes once morest the rights of foreign citizens, injuries and smuggling. Court Number 3 of San Fernando has ordered his entry into prison.
The events occurred on November 29. The Civil Guard, National Police and Maritime Rescue received notice that several people were being thrown from a semi-rigid boat, like those usually used for hashish caches, off the coast of San Fernando. On the drug boat there were more than 30 migrants who were forced to jump in two batches, on Camposoto beach and in the Sancti Petri pipes, “in an area with strong currents and where they might not stand, with the aggravating circumstance that many of them did not know how to swim,” as the police and the armed institute explained this Monday in a joint statement. The first migrants who were forced to jump, regarding twenty, reached the shore under their own power. On the second occasion, the migrants remaining on the boat were pushed with threats and intimidated with a machete; The suspects did not hesitate to cut with the weapon the ropes with which some people tied themselves to the boat to avoid falling.
The event surprised a filming team that was working in the Sancti Petri area together with a local nautical company. The quick intervention of these sailors made it possible to rescue five of those thrown into the sea, who had to perform resuscitation maneuvers and help them with blankets and water. The area of the incident was an intertidal channel with strong currents and where there was no footing. This caused four people to drown. Days later, the body of a fifth person was recovered and it was necessary to perform DNA tests to identify him. Relatives in Morocco provided samples of their genetic material, thanks to the mediation of an NGO.
Part of this entire reckless maneuver—that of the second jump in Sancti Petri—ended up recorded by witnesses from the shore. The video shows the violence and intimidation to which the migrants were subjected in an event that surprised the agents in the Cádiz area, due to the combination of the high number of migrants, the aggressiveness used and the use of drug boats to human trafficking. The operation, in which Europol has collaborated, has now confirmed that the victims left from Kenitra and that each one paid between 3,000 and 12,000 euros for the trip.
The arrest of the three suspects, who are already in provisional prison, occurred on March 7, as confirmed by sources close to an investigation that has been directed by Court Number 3 of San Fernando and the Cádiz Prosecutor’s Office. The operation took place in the towns of Algeciras and San Roque, in the province of Cádiz, and in Granada, points where two men and a woman were arrested, whose identities have not yet been revealed. One of the men, who is credited with piloting duties, and the woman have a history of drug trafficking, according to sources familiar with the investigations. In addition, cartons of contraband tobacco and marijuana plants have been located in the searches. Investigators do not rule out that new arrests may occur.
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Human trafficking mafias have been using the coasts of Cádiz as the end point of their trips for years. Before they traveled in wooden boats. However, more than a year ago the Spanish authorities detected the use of inflatable boats for this purpose on the Mediterranean coasts, in points such as Almería. In the province of Cádiz, these passes were usually limited to boarding stowaways on boats loaded with hashish or trips on jet skis. But the police siege on drug trafficking in the Strait caused some of these mafias to begin to further diversify their criminal activity in the passage of migrants. The number of migrants (more than 30) and the violence used on November 29 represented an unknown qualitative leap in the area, but one that the European border agency, Frontex, had already warned regarding last August, following it witnessed that These trips ended with threats with knives to the occupants to speed up the disembarkation.
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