People-trafficker is arrested off Almeria

THE drama of people-trafficking continues unabated in Almeria.

While all attention is turned to the plight of thousands of refugees at the border between Hungary and Serbia, mafias are still preying on Africans prepared to pay to seek a new life.

This week a Guardia Civil marine patrol rescued 44 immigrants crammed into a seven-metre rubber dinghy. It was inside Spain’s territorial waters when it was first spotted 13 kilometres south of Alboran Island which lies off the Morocco coast.

Because the sea was rough and there were babies amongst the passengers, the Guardia Civil decided not to wait for the Marine Rescue boat but transferred them to their own craft.

Here they were given food and water and checked by paramedics who found that they were all in good health, even the young baby.

The man in charge of the clearly unseaworthy rubber dinghy was arrested by the National Police on reaching Almeria Port, sources said. The same Guardia Civil sources revealed that he did not flee on sighting their vessel because he had mistakenly identified it as a civilian craft.