Agents of the National Police in Palma have arrested a 30-year-old man of Algerian origin, as well as two minors, as alleged perpetrators of a crime against the rights of foreign citizens.
At around eight o’clock in the morning on 26 April, Guardia Civil officers rescued a boat with 14 people on board, who were taken to the port of Palma, where they received care from the Red Cross and then handed over to the National Police.
The police identified a 30-year-old man as the skipper of this skiff and found out that two minors, who initially claimed to be of legal age, had also steered the boat from Algeria to the Balearics.
After their arrest, the two young men were subjected to osteometric tests in a hospital in Palma, and were considered minors, and were therefore placed at the disposal of the Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office and admitted to a juvenile centre.
The adult detainee appeared in court and was remanded in custody.
The police stated today that that this type of crossing usually lasts more than 24 hours and seriously endangers the lives of the people who risk these trips, as the waterline is easily exceeded and, in this case, the passengers lacked sufficient life jackets, radio, flares or any other location system, as well as sufficient supplies of food and water.
This boat only had one engine of low reliability and power, no auxiliary engine, and some of the passengers even smoked on board, according to the National Police. Passengers usually pay between 700 and 2,000 euros per crossing.
So far this year, 20 small boats have arrived in the Balearics with 345 immigrants on board, while in 2022, 174 small boats with 2,570 occupants were detected off the Balearic coast, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior.
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