MADRID: More than 100 migrants on Tuesday managed to scale the six-meter fence surrounding the Spanish exclave of Melilla to enter the territory while around 40 remained perched on the barrier, officials said.
Some 200 people tried to storm into the territory that lies in northern Morocco — which together with the nearby exclave of Ceuta have Europe’s only land borders with Africa — in the early morning hours, Melilla police said in a statement.
“In total, 102 managed to enter Melilla” and 40 remained on top of the fence under the watchful eyes of Spanish border guards, it said.
The flow of migrants hoping to reach Europe via Ceuta and Melilla has swelled this year by the conflicts in Syria and Iraq as well as unrest in parts of north Africa, officials say.
The number of undocumented migrants entering Melilla had surged to more than 4,600 in early December, compared with 3,000 for the whole of 2013, Spain’s interior minister said on December 10.
Rights groups and the UN refugee agency have accused Spanish forces of violence toward migrants climbing the border fences into Ceuta and Melilla over recent months.
100 migrants scale fence to enter Spain’s Melilla
100 migrants scale fence to enter Spain’s Melilla
Sweden seizes false-flagged ship with suspected stolen Ukrainian grain
- The Russian embassy in Stockholm said it had been informed by the Swedish coast guard that 10 of the crew were Russian citizens
STOCKHOLM: Police in Sweden have seized a false-flagged cargo ship off its southern coast believed to belong to Russia’s shadow fleet and suspected of transporting stolen Ukrainian grain, authorities said Saturday.
The 96-meter (315-foot) Caffa left Casablanca in Morocco on February 24 and was headed for Saint Petersburg, Russia when armed Swedish police boarded it on Friday off the southern town of Trelleborg.
“The vessel is on the Ukraine sanctions list. Information indicates that it has essentially been used to transport grain that is stolen, as we understand it, from Ukraine,” the coast guard’s acting head of operations, Daniel Stenling, told a press conference.
“We have been able to establish that the vessel is sailing under a false flag. She is registered in Guinea, but that registration is in fact false,” he added.
“A majority” of the 11 crew members were Russian, Stenling said.
The Russian embassy in Stockholm said it had been informed by the Swedish coast guard that 10 of the crew were Russian citizens.
“The Russian embassy in Sweden is in contact with the competent Swedish authorities and is ready, if necessary, to provide consular assistance to the Russian nationals among the crew,” it wrote on Telegram.
One crew member was under investigation for violation of the maritime code on seaworthiness and on ship safety, Stenling said, refusing to disclose the suspect’s identity or crew role.
“The investigative measures we have taken so far reinforce our suspicions and our view that there are extensive maritime safety deficiencies on this vessel,” he said.
The Swedish Transport Agency was to inspect the ship and determine whether it was seaworthy and authorized to continue its journey.
- ‘Risk of accidents’ -
Moscow’s “shadow fleet” consists of vessels with opaque ownership used to skirt Western sanctions.
“It’s a problem for us that we are seeing more ships that don’t respect the law of the sea,” Stenling said, noting that “the risk of accidents increases when ships are not certified.”
“We might not even know what kind of crew is on board, what kind of skills they have, what certifications they hold, and they often lack insurance if something were to happen,” he added.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga on Saturday thanked Sweden.
“Collective action against such vessels is gaining momentum. This is a welcome development,” he wrote on X.
“Sanctions work when they are strictly enforced. Together, we must stop the activities of Russia’s shadow fleet to protect Europe’s security and environment.”
