International - India & World   

Crew of migrants boat held in Canary Islands

Santa Cruz De Tenerife (Canary Islands): The police arrested five men on suspicion of people-smuggling after 165 men, including from India and Pakistan, were taken off a large boat which was towed into the port in the Canary Islands, officials said on Saturday.

The five were suspected to be crew members of the large steel-hulled fishing vessel. The other 160 men — believed to be would-be immigrants from India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan — were escorted to a dockside warehouse.

The police boarded the boat when it was anchored three km south of Tenerife Island on Thursday.

Initially Spain refused permission for the migrants to get off the boat, which tied up at the port of Santa Cruz midday on Friday, although 20 were taken off for medical treatment.

Later, those still aboard were allowed on land to be given food, an Interior Ministry spokeswoman said. It was not known where the suspected crew were from.

Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said the Government suspected that most of the migrants on board were Pakistan nationals. Spain would look to negotiate fast-track repatriation of all on board. — AP

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

America, Britain have no place on U.N. Council: Ahmadinejad
Latvian President joins U.N. race
Probe begins into aid workers' killing
Shanghai Group moots energy pool
Threat was a joke: suspect
Taliban on the rise again in Afghanistan
Quake rocks Indonesia
Referendum on reunion
Close race in Sweden
India leads campaign for revision of IMF reform plan
Crew of migrants boat held in Canary Islands

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu