EUROPE-MIGRANTS/SPAIN MELILLA TRUCKS Migrants found stowing away in fairground trucks heading to central Spain

Record ID: 141662

  • Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/SPAIN MELILLA TRUCKS Migrants found stowing away in fairground trucks heading to central Spain
  • Date: 7th September 2015
  • Summary: MELILLA, SPAIN (SEPTEMBER 7, 2015) (REUTERS) (NIGHT) TOWN'S FAIR GROUND / TRUCKS PARKED NEXT TO ATTRACTIONS READY TO BE LOADED MIGRANT TRYING TO HIDE UNDER TRUCK MIGRANTS SITTING BEHIND WALL POLICE WALKING / MIGRANTS VARIOUS OF POLICE PATROLLING AREA MIGRANT LOOKING ON AT TRUCKS IN FAIRGROUND MIGRANT GETTING OUT OF TRUCK / POLICE LOOKING ON VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS WANDERING AROUND FAIR GROUND FAIR ATTRACTION TRUCK DEPARTING / MIGRANTS RUNNING AFTER IT POLICE CAR AT FAIR GROUND MIGRANTS RUNNING TOWARDS TRUCK VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS CLIMBING INTO TRUCKS TO HIDE VARIOUS OF OFFICIALS SEARCHING TRUCK LOOKING FOR MIGRANTS MELILLA, SPAIN (SEPTEMBER 7, 2015) (REUTERS) TRUCK AT POLICE CHECK POINT BEFORE BEING TAKEN ONTO FERRY MIGRANT BEING DISCOVERED BY POLICE HIDDEN IN TRUCK VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS BEING TAKEN AWAY FROM TRUCK WHERE THEY WERE HIDING VARIOUS OF VAN / MIGRANTS SEEN THROUGH WINDOW MIGRANT FOUND IN TRUCK BEING TAKEN AWAY BY POLICE POLICE SEARCHING TRUCK MIGRANT FOUND IN TRUCK BEING TAKEN AWAY BY POLICE POLICE WITH SNIFFER DOG SEARCHING TRUCK
  • Embargoed: 22nd September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Spain
  • Country: Spain
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA8R70VNL15JE2XS9A808JEACPB
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS NIGHT SHOTS
    Spanish police on Monday (September 7) found 52 illegal migrants hiding in trucks carrying attractions from an annual funfair in the north African enclave of Melilla that were heading to central Spain.
    The operation, which takes place every year, began early on Monday just as the festivities ended.
    Migrants were seen wandering around the site waiting for the right moment to hide in the attractions loaded up on the trucks in a bid to gain entry to the Iberian Peninsula.
    Police used sniffer dogs to detect the stowaways before the trucks were permitted onto ferries to travel on to the port of Algeciras in Spain.
    All people found in trucks had Moroccan origin, police said in a statement.
    Just over 12 square kilometres (44.7 square miles), Melilla is a Spanish city on the African continent that shares a border with Morocco. Along with Ceuta, it is one of two Spanish enclaves in northern Africa.
    Hundreds of hopeful migrants camp out for weeks and months in Moroccan territory just outside both cities preparing to attempt to climb the fences or swim along the coast.
    In recent years, Spain has built new, higher fences around the enclaves and lined them with razor wire, but several thousand immigrants still manage to make the crossing every year.
    The number of illegal immigrants arriving in Spain jumped by 68 percent during 2014, the majority entering via Spain's north African territories using fake documentation, according to the Spanish Ministry.
    The data shows that the largest group of migrants and about 60 percent of all those arriving in Spain entered through its north African enclaves.
    Migrants that reach the territories either by climbing the metal fence at the Spanish enclave of Melilla in North Africa or by boat, usually come without identification papers.
    Spain puts them in a holding centre and tries to establish their identities in order to send them back to countries with which it has repatriation agreements.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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