The Civil Guard and the National Police, in collaboration with Europol, have arrested two men and a woman for the drowning death of five migrants who were thrown into the sea on November 29 off the coast of Cádiz. According to what has emerged, two of them are related to drug trafficking and have a history in this matter.
The arrested traffickers forced them to jump into the sea from a high-speed boat, threatening them with a machete, knowing of the strong currents in the area and that many of them did not know how to swim, the National Police and Civil Guard have reported.
There were at least 37 people on board the boat who would have paid between 3,000 and 12,000 euros each way to enter Spain from Kenitra, in Morocco. Initially, four lifeless bodies were recovered and days later a fifth, which had to be identified by DNA obtained from relatives in Morocco in collaboration with an NGO.
Those arrested in three house searches in Cádiz and Granada are two men, aged 45 and 39, one of them the alleged skipper of the boat, and a woman, aged 46.
The events occurred off the coast of Cádiz, between the municipalities of San Fernando and Chiclana, when the 12-meter-long boat with three engines with more than 30 people crammed on board made a first forcible landing in front of the beach. de Camposoto and the migrants were forced to jump into the water in an area with strong currents and where they could not stand.
Once they released most of them, they headed towards the entrance to the Santi Petri channel with nine people on board who had clung to the boat for fear of abandoning the ship because they did not know how to swim.
All of them were forced to jump into the water at the point of a machete, cutting some ropes to which several had clung. Once they got rid of them, they left the area at full speed.
Several people who were on their pleasure boat observed what happened and came to help the drowned migrants, being able to save the lives of some of them, while others died.
The joint operation between the Civil Guard and the National Police, called “Phantom-Yamal”, has made it possible to reveal the itinerary carried out from Morocco, in addition to the amount paid by the migrants, which ranged between 3,000 and 12,000 euros. The agents managed to locate the boat used and key documents to clarify the multiple homicide.
The detainees are accused of crimes of criminal organization, against the rights of foreign citizens, homicide, injuries and smuggling.
During the investigation, directed by the Investigative Court No. 3 of San Fernando with the collaboration of the Cádiz Prosecutor’s Office and the Europol agency, it remains open and further actions are not ruled out.