Morocco halts Canary flight
2004-01-02 10:09
Rabat - Fifty-one sub-Saharan Africans have been arrested in Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara and prevented from setting sail for Spain's Canary Islands where they hoped to immigrate illegally, police said Thursday.
They said the 20 Gambians, 15 Malians, 11 Senegalese, two Nigerians, one Liberian, one Ghanaian and one Guinean were arrested overnight near El Ayoun, the capital of Western Sahara, a disputed former Spanish colony annexed by Morocco in 1975.
Spain's Canary Islands are 160km off the coast of Morocco in the Atlantic Ocean.
In December, 178 sub-Saharan Africans were arrested in El Ayoun and escorted to the Moroccan border.
Overall last year, nearly 1 400 people were prevented from travelling illegally to the Canaries, up from 1 240 in 2002, authorities said.