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The new illegal immigration route from Morocco to Portugal is confirmed. The information, based on the SEF investigation, was shared approximately two weeks ago with the GNR and the Navy, who are collaborating in this process, at the request of that security service.
SEF, GNR and Navy have worked together to prevent new landings, with a realignment of surveillance
Since then, SEF, GNR and the Navy have been working together to prevent further landings, with a realignment of coastal surveillance by the GNR and the sea, with Navy ships.
Sources of this workgroup Inédito revealed to DN that the SEF investigators presented maps and videos, filmed by some of the migrants, which allowed a very complete reconstruction of the route taken from Morocco.
It was also confirmed that the route is carried out directly, only in a boat and it is estimated that it will take between 40 and 50 hours ”.
It is confirmed that the six ships that managed to reach the Portuguese coast, in the Algarve, left the same geographical point, El Jadida, on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, and headed to Portugal. It was also confirmed that the route is carried out directly, only by boat, and it is estimated that it will take between 40 and 50 hours ”, underlines one of those sources accompanying the investigation.
Reconstituted route with videos
A new tripartite meeting of this special team is scheduled for October 7, where those responsible for the SEF investigation are expected to deliver all the documentation and images already collected so that the GNR and the Navy can also make their contributions.
The SEF told the military how it managed to reconstitute the route – some 700 km in a straight line – followed from El Jadida, the old Portuguese Mazagão, to the Algarve.
The images taken during the trip, through mobile phones, by some of the migrants, were analyzed with a magnifying glass. “Whenever a point of reference was observed, on the coast or at sea, such as boats or other vessels, data was crossed and the exact location through which they passed was confirmed,” explains another responsible person accompanying the workgroup.
Likewise, the consultations made so far with the migrants have allowed the investigators to remain free of doubts about the existence of this route, in particular that the illegal immigration network was based in the old historic Portuguese city.
The government has denied the route
As the DN discovered, this investigation was also to collect some elements from an earlier process, before the first release arrived last December. In this process, suspicions of the illegal entry of Moroccan migrants to Portugal via fishing boats were investigated. But no conclusion was reached.
The conclusion of this SEF investigation was reported to the government just a few days ago, already after the arrival of the last ship with 28 migrants, on September 15., and after workgroup SEF, GNR and Navy.
Several members of the government have denied this possibility, even after there have been landings.
But there were already several indications and warnings. So far, several government officials have denied this possibility, even after landings have occurred.
The Minister of Internal Administration, Eduardo Cabrita, has been the most forceful. In June, when 48 immigrants had already arrived on the Portuguese coast, Cabrita stressed that Portugal “should not be ridiculous” considering that there is an illegal immigration network for the Algarve.
“I do not dramatize much what I see that is discussed a lot, we must not be ridiculous, we must anticipate and be rigorous in the investigation”
“I do not dramatize much what I see that is discussed a lot, we must not be ridiculous, we must anticipate and be rigorous in the investigation,” said Eduardo Cabrita in the parliamentary committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees.
For the holder of the Internal Security portfolio, taking into account the number of migrants who had already disembarked, “You have to have some ridiculous dimension when compared to the 7,500 arrivals in Spain since January, even with a significant reduction in arrivals this year. “
At the same time, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Augusto Santos Silva, also considered that “it is not possible to speak of a migration route” to the Algarve and stressed the importance of creating legal migration channels, which Portugal is negotiating with Morocco.
“I think there is still no way to talk about routes. In the last six months, we have registered 46 people who arrived in the Algarve in small unsafe boats and, therefore, this is not a dimension that should make us talk about routes.” said Augusto Santos Silva.
This charge was seconded more recently, on the 15th, after 28 more migrants arrived, by the Secretary of State for Integration and Migration. “It is still reckless to talk about the route, especially if we compare it with Spain and other countries they have reached,” said Cláudia Pereira.
On the Moroccan side, this route will have been received with “much surprise”, in the words of the ambassador of that country in Portugal. Speaking to DN last week, Othmane Bahnini revealed that it was “with great surprise” that she saw the news of the first landing in December, followed by five others in January, June (two), July and September.
“There had been only one case, in 2007, of a boat with 23 Moroccans going to Spain, by mistake, but in the last 13 years there had never been anything. It was a big surprise that we saw the news that they were Moroccan. , with the particularity that they are from El Jadida, the old Portuguese Mazagão ”, she added.
The ambassador, who did not want to assume the existence of the “route”, so as not to contradict the position of the Portuguese State, preferred to highlight the measures that were, however, taken by his government, to avoid and prevent more Moroccans from “risking their lives ” clandestinely arriving in Portugal “in the hands of criminal networks.”
It says that “immediately after the first landing in December, an investigation was immediately opened at the site, where it was assumed that it was the origin of these people.”
58 more ready to board
And points: “We dismantled a cell that had been involved in bringing immigrants to Portugal.”
It reveals that, “in June, three people were arrested and an operation that involved 23 candidates to board, including a woman, “and” on August 10, we arrested two more people, who were prepare for the embarkation of another 35 migrants and days later we arrested three more traffickers. “
Bahnini stresses that Morocco “reacted immediately on the ground.” “It is our responsibility to control the borders and protect the space of the European Union and we are committed at all levels. In 2019, we reduced the number of migrants trying to reach the EU by sea by 65% and aborted 74,000 operations. It is a great job that Morocco does every day ”, he guarantees.
Timely alerts of secrets
The Portuguese intelligence services began to alert the authorities and the Portuguese government, from the first landing in December, about the possibility of installing a new illegal immigration route, by sea, from North Africa, a warning reinforced in the last Annual Internal Security Report.
Portugal continues to serve as a subsidiary access point to the European space, and an increase in illegal immigration is expected to have direct effects on our country. The increase in migratory flows recorded on the Western Mediterranean route is considered of particular concern for internal security. to previous years, “wrote the Security Information Service (SIS).
As reported by the DN, this new phenomenon of illegal immigration has exhausted all the accommodation capacities of the SEF, and most of these Moroccan migrants were installed in prisons and in the Tavira barracks, of which 17 fled this week, leaving two of them yet to be captured. .
Of the total of 97 migrants who have landed in the Algarve since December, at least 37 are missing.
This is the list:
Dec 11, 2019
Eight Moroccan citizens landed on Monte Gordo. The whereabouts are unknown.
January 29, 2020
Eleven Moroccan citizens landed in Olhão. The whereabouts are unknown.
June 6, 2020
Seven Moroccan citizens were detected near the island of Culatra.
June 15, 2020
Twenty-two Moroccan citizens were detected near Vale do Lobo. Nine have been released and their whereabouts are uncertain.
July 21, 2020
21 Moroccan citizens were also detected in Vale de Lobo. They are on the Linhó chain.
September 15, 2020
Twenty-eight Moroccan citizens (two women and a minor were detected near the island of Formosa). Seventeen fled the barracks where they were installed and 15 were captured.
