Human TraffickingNews

Spanish National Police detain the two skippers of the boat that foundered on the coast of Lanzarote

Agents of the National Police have arrested two men on the island of Lanzarote as alleged perpetrators of crimes favoring illegal immigration and reckless homicide. They were identified by the immigrants as those responsible for the management and navigation of the boat that arrived on the shores of Órzola (Lanzarote).

The emergency services reported the arrival on the coast of Órzola of a semi-rigid boat of about nine meters in length. Due to the force of the sea, the boat ran aground on the rocks of Costa Calmada, tipping all its occupants into the sea. Members of the Civil Guard and Maritime Rescue managed to rescue 41 of the people who were traveling on the boat (20 men, 17 women and four children) alive and finally locating four lifeless bodies, including that of a minor.

The agents of the National Police then began a police investigation that allowed two of the members of the boat to be fully identified as those responsible for its handling and navigation. 

The police investigations culminated in their arrest as alleged perpetrators of crimes favoring illegal immigration and reckless homicide.

One of them already has numerous records in our country for crimes of injury, trespassing, drug production and infringement of the immigration law, in addition to having a ban on entry into the Schengen area in force.

With these latest arrests, the number of pateristas detained by the National Police in the Canary Islands for crimes against the rights of foreign citizens so far this year rises to 89.