Gambian officials intercept 108 illegal migrants

14 Novembre 2017

Banjul, Gambia, November 14 (Infosplusgabon) - The Gambian security has intercepted 108 young illegal migrants from the sub-region on their way to Canary Islands.

According to Gambia Immigration Department (GID) officials, they recently intercepted two separate groups of young people intending to travel by sea to Canary Islands via Gambia.

The first group captured over the weekend numbering 45 consisted of mainly Senegalese nationals, one Guinean and five Gambians while the second groupof 58 young migrants intercepted were largely Senegalese and some Gambians.

In briefing the media on Monday at GID Irregular Migration Unit Centre in Taniji, a fishing town outside Gambian capital, GID spokesman Superintendent Mamanding Dibba disclosed that the groups were intercepted following a tip-off and intelligence.

The youths were said to have assembled in the coastal village of Toubakolong in the northern bank of the Gambian river where they planned to take small boats which would ferry them to a bigger waiting boat in the sea.

The five Gambians have since been released and allowed to reunite with their families.

Later Senegalese authorities in the Gambia were invited to meet their nationals and modalities are being worked out to return them and reunite with their families in Senegal.

FIN/INFOSPLUSGABON/MOP/ GABON 2017

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