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500 illegals intercepted
19/08/2004 21:18 - (SA)
Madrid - A ship carrying 500 clandestine immigrants was intercepted at the weekend as it was about to leave the Sierra Leonean capital Freetown for Spain's Canary Islands, the islands' governor Jose Segura said on Thursday.
"More than 500 immigrants, who were crammed into the port and organised by people-smuggling mafia groups, were about to set out to sea for the Canaries," he told reporters.
The interception of the ship, the Ohllgan Starest, on Sunday was the result of a two-month investigation by security officials in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Spain, Segura said.
He hinted that further smuggling attempts were being planned.
"Several old ships that are being repaired for use to smuggle migrants have been detected in different parts of western Africa," he added.
The would-be illegal immigrants aboard the Ohllgan Starest had paid people-traffickers between $1 500 and $2 500 each for the voyage.
The vessel's captain and crew are in detention, Segura said.
He said that since Morocco and Spain had increased their surveillance activities gangs that used to operate out of Morocco were forced "to go further afield, as far as the Gulf of Guinea" off the coast of west Africa, where they bought their boats.
According to Segura, between April 1 and August 9 Moroccan customs and immigration officials had picked up 1 072 would-be clandestine immigrants hoping to reach either southern Spain or the Canaries.
In 2002, Segura said, two ships carrying 109 and 235 illegal immigrants reached the Canaries, while a third with 156 aboard was intercepted in April.
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