FRONTEX WATCH

The major example of this, later followed by other operations, was on Friday, May 11, when 11 boats arrived within nine hours, eight of them simultaneously at different points along the shorelines of the islands.

The vessels had sailed northwards from places close to Cabo Bojador, in Western Sahara, and after covering 225 kilometres in 25 to 30 hours, they made for the southern tip of the island of Gran Canaria.

Shortly before approaching within 12 nautical miles of the coast, and in order to avoid being detected by the single radar apparatus installed there, they dispersed and made landfall separately, so that Spanish patrol boats would not be able to prevent their arrival.

The police saw several dots on the radar screen, but were not able to determine whether they were small vessels or just “noise” from wave motion. They did, however, stop some of the boats and detained their passengers, while other boats made it to shore.

In any case, once the 12-mile limit is breached, the immigrants are within Spanish territorial waters and cannot be expelled, unless they are nationals of a country that has signed a deportation agreement with Spain, such as Morocco and, more recently, Senegal.

more from Inter Press Service