Las Palmas court sentences two for organizing deadly migration trips from Morocco to Canary Islands

The Regional Court in Las Palmas has handed down a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence to two individuals involved in a criminal network orchestrating irregular migration routes from southern Morocco to the Canary Islands. These individuals were linked to four perilous sea voyages between September 2022 and July 2023, tragically resulting in the deaths of 96 migrants.

The accused confessed to charges of facilitating irregular migration. Initially, prosecutors had pressed for a seven-year sentence, but the term was reduced, taking into account that the defendants were migrants themselves, seeking to reach Spain.

Investigations uncovered that the network, led by a Senegalese national who remains at large, was active along Morocco's southern coast and organized at least four voyages to the Canary Islands. In August 2022, a boat departing from Tan-Tan with 61 migrants onboard sank, leaving no survivors. Another vessel carrying 58 migrants was rescued near Fuerteventura, while only one person survived from a third boat with 34 migrants.

Reports reveal that one of the convicted individuals managed a safe house for migrants prior to their departure, while the other was tasked with recruiting migrants and collecting payment for their passage.