A migrant who was found in a semi-conscious state on the top of a refrigerated truck has been rescued by the Spanish National Police as part of the Minerva operation.
According to a statement of August 23 by the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, the agents involved in the operation were part of a multidisciplinary team that cooperated with the European Border and Coast Guard Agency personnel, Frontex.
The officers were engaged in border inspection activities at the entry point into the national territory from Tangier when they received a warning from the National Police dog guide team, which was also part of the operation. This alarm was prompted by the suspicion that someone might be hiding at the top of the truck.
“After the appropriate checks were carried out, they located a man lying face down on the roof of the vehicle and, with the help of a ladder, the agents accessed the upper part of the refrigerated truck where they found the migrant in a state of semi-consciousness, breathing with difficulty and with obvious fatigue symptoms,” the statement reads.
In this regard, the Ministry also pointed out that the person in question was carefully removed from the truck after providing him the first aid.
Following the incident, the joint multidisciplinary team of the National Police and Frontex successfully confiscated 13 luxury watches, each from distinct brands and enclosed in their respective cases. These items were suspected to be counterfeit, and the individual in question was attempting to bring them into the national territory from Tangier.
This is only one of the recent frequent successful rescues of migrants attempting to enter Spain in life-threatening conditions, by the National Spanish police. Only this month, the authority rescued three migrants in critical condition from inside a refrigerated truck after it arrived at the port of Algeciras (Cádiz) from Tangier.
As the Ministry explains, after the police unlocked and opened the truck, they found the three people of North African origin in extreme fatigue and respiratory distress.
The Minerva 2023 operation was launched on June 16, the primary objective of which was to bolster the security of the border posts located in Algeciras, Ceuta, and the same is scheduled to end on September 6, 2023. The operation involved the collaboration of 94 experts from 16 different countries. During 2022, a total of 2,034 identifications were made, and over 1,900 police actions were carried out.
