Dakar, July 17 (EFE) .- (Camera: María Rodríguez) A helicopter and two ships that belong to the Spanish National Police and Civil Guard are permanently deployed in Dakar and the coast of Senegal to prevent irregular migration from the African country.
 
They integrate a security device that was launched in 2006, when the Canary Islands became the destination of thousands of people who departed in traditional fishing vessels mainly from Senegal, Mauritania and Morocco.
 
According to the Ministry of the Interior of the Spanish Embassy in Senegal, the device continues to function because it has "an important deterrent effect" and has removed the attractiveness of the Atlantic route to reach Europe.
 
This Spanish-Senegalese device of mixed patrols is part of the measures to control the borders and migratory flows that govern the current migration policies of the European Union.
 
According to the website of the Council of the EU, these measures have reduced irregular arrivals by more than 90%.
 
In the case of Senegal, the device in which the Spanish Police and Civil Guard participate would be one of the factors that would have diminished the departures from Senegal to the Canary Islands crossing the Atlantic Ocean in boats.
 
 
COUNSELOR OF THE SPANISH MINISTRY OF INTERIOR IN SENEGAL JORGE ANDINO:
“From here the trip in a traditional boat, that normally transports 70-150 people, takes seven days and the conditions are very hard, because there’s a lack of drinking water and fuel”.
FOOTAGE OF THE COAST OF SENEGAL