Spanish police detain more than 300 illegal immigrants

Spanish police intercepted more than 300 Africans who tried to enter Spain illegally at the weekend after sailing in packed rubber boats.

It was one of the highest number of would-be illegal immigrants detained in 48 hours in Spain so far this year.

A police spokesman said 160 were intercepted in rubber boats off the coast of Granada. A further 39 were arrested on land after having arrived by sea.

Elsewhere, 70 Africans were intercepted off the coast of the Canary Island of Fuerteventura and other 50 in the area of the small fishing town of Tarifa, Europe’s southernmost tip.

The majority of those detained were men, most from Morocco. More than 100 were from unspecified sub-Saharan countries, a Civil Guard spokesman said.

Every year thousands of Africans try to cross the Strait of Gibraltar, which is 8.7 miles wide at Tarifa, to seek work in Spain and elsewhere in Europe. Others sail west from Morocco to the Canary Islands.