Immigrants use WhatsApp to ask Spanish coastguard to rescue them after Morocco crossing

MIGRANTS making the illegal journey from Morocco to Spain are using messaging service WhatsApp to demand they are rescued and taken ashore.

Sunday Express

By Matt Drake

24 August 2017

Recent clampdowns on routes to Europe from Libya have led to an increase on the western Mediterranean passage which could overtake Greece as the busiest crossing after Libya-Italy.

Head of Tarifa’s Maritime Rescue Jose Maraver said that migrants use smartphones to tell the coastguard their exact location.

Mr Maraver said: “The ones who have data on their phones sometimes send us their exact location using WhatsApp. This is the best and most efficient way to find and rescue them.

“I believe people in Spain are starting to have negative feelings towards these immigrants. It’s becoming a problem. Those responsible for the Barcelona attack were Moroccan.”

Gangs crack down on anyone trying to make the trip on their own from Libya to Greece, but the gangs in Morocco are less organised meaning more migrants cross on their own.

According to the UN, 8,200 migrants have already made the nine-mile crossing this year, which is a huge rise from the 2,500 who made the trip during the same period last year.

Many cross on little more than toy boats which can be bought from a beach shop.

The immigrants call the Spanish coast guard on WhatsApp when they are too exhausted to paddle.

Chris Borowski from the border control agency Frontex said: “Most of the people who come through Spain are economic migrants.”

The only migrants counted in the official arrival figures are those rescued or caught, which means there could be countless more.

This has increased concerns that potential terrorists are travelling into Europe undetected.

Spain is on high alert after the recent attacks in Barcelona in which 15 people were killed.

The suspects are alleged to have links to ISIS and are of Moroccan origin.

Captain Israel Diaz Aragon, 43, skipper of a local rescue boat told The Sun that the problem is getting worse.

He said: “Spaniards are now starting to put aside the fact that these people need help. They are worrying there could be terrorists among them.”

Most of the migrants crossing are from Morocco, Ivory Coast, Guinea and Gambia which largely do not have issues which give citizens the right to refugee status.

Migrants from Morocco are sent home within two or three days if caught because of an extradition treaty between Spain and Morocco.

But migrants from sub-Saharan countries enter lengthy legal attempts to stay and although many are told to leave Spain it is thought many remain.

Ivan Fernandez of the Red Cross said: “I don’t have official figures but my personal opinion is that most of them do stay here.”


Source: http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/845171/Immigrants-are-using-WhatsApp-to-DEMAND-Spanish-rescue-them-as-they-cross-from-Morocco