A group of around thirty North African culture-enrichers disembarked on the beach at the resort town of Nerja in Andalucía last Thursday. Unlike their 8th-century predecessors, they didn’t travel by felucca: this time they arrived on an inflatable speedboat.

Many thanks to Gary Fouse for translating this brief news video, and to Vlad Tepes and RAIR Foundation for the subtitling:

Below is the accompanying article from Noticias de Malaga / Diario Sur, also translated by Gary Fouse:

A speedboat with some 30 Maghrebian migrants arrives on a beach at Nerja

The occupants, 33 Moroccan men, six of whom are minors, are in good health after being intercepted by the Guardia Civil [Civil Guard] and local police.

Photo caption: The moment when the boat drops off the Maghrebian [North African] migrants, including six minors. — Ángel Moyano

by Eugenio Cabezas
September 19, 2024

A new disembarkation of Maghrebian migrants in Nerja. It was 4:45pm Thursday when sunbathers were surprised by the arrival of a large inflatable boat, a speed boat with three outboard motors, with some thirty migrants of Maghrebian origin on board.

The occupants, mostly middle-aged men from Morocco, along with six minors, jumped into the water a few meters from shore, and the boat took off at high speed. The migrants then began to disperse to the easternmost coastal city of the province. A team of Guardia Civil and local police was deployed to try to locate them.

According to what SUR has been able to confirm, thirty-three Moroccan men were intercepted, sixty of whom are minors. However, appropriate tests to determine their age are pending. Some of the migrants were arrested after they had run more than three kilometers near the Calaceite Beach at Torrox.

At the foot of Calle Chaparil in the center of the easternmost coastal locality of the province, one of the Maghrebian migrants who was stopped explained to this newspaper that they departed early in the morning from the coastal region of Rif in Morocco.

The man stated that there were twenty-six young men, all Moroccan. The migrant, who spoke a little Spanish, said that all were in “good health” and were “happy” to arrive in Spain.

The intercepted migrants were transferred to the Guardia Civil post at Nerja, in order that efforts to repatriate them to the Alawi nation [Morocco] might commence, according to what SUR has been able to confirm. Specifically, from Nerja, they were transferred to the Temporary Care Center for Foreigners (CATE) located at the facilities of the Port of Malaga.

Second boat in 20 days

The most recent previous boat with migrants at Nerja arrived last August 29, when it reached the beach at El Playazo, a speedboat with some twenty people on board. In the early morning hours, the Guardia Civil arrested two dozen middle-aged men of Maghrebian origin, who also succeeded in reaching the shore.

In an initial operation, five of the migrants were located, and a subsequent search in the zone succeeded in intercepting fifteen others, according to what the news agency Europa Press reported, citing sources close to the case, who explained that the Integrated System of Exterior Surveillance (SIVE) of the Guardia Civil detected the boat, and officers were deployed to intercept it.

The same sources said that at the beginning of the operation, five persons were detained, and later the location of the other fifteen was also discovered, among whom was one minor, judging by his appearance. The Guardia Civil transferred all these people to CATE, located at the facilities of the Port of Malaga.

The boat, also a speedboat with outboard motors, arrived at the shore of the Nerja beach of El Playazo in the early morning hours. Several neighbors and witnesses alerted the state security forces of its presence, although it was already being tracked by Guardia Civil radar.

Video transcript: