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Spain arrests 72 migrants in Gibraltar Strait

December 16, 2017 at 12:04 pm

Spanish navy yesterday arrested 72 African migrants while they were trying to cross the Gibraltar Strait heading to Spain, the Anadolu Agency reported.

Navy boats intercepted four boats as they crossed the sea, a statement said, adding that they had set off from Morocco. Seventy-two migrants were onboard including three women.

Those captured were transported to The city of Tarifa, in the south of Spain, where some of them received medical care.

Read: Turkey rescues 68 migrants stranded in Aegean Sea

Spanish and Moroccan navies have been on alert in Gibraltar because of attempts by illegal migrants to cross the Strait towards Spain.

International monitors have recorded a rise in the number of Moroccans migrating to Spain this year.

Last month, the Moroccan Interior Minister Abdul-Wafi Lafteet said that his country stopped 50,000 illegal migrants in 2017 and dismantled 73 human trafficking networks.