Politics

Spanish police find migrants hiding in bottle container, sealed bag of ash

Melilla, Spain, Feb 22 (efe-epa).- Spanish police on Monday said they recently discovered 41 migrants attempting to smuggle themselves to mainland Europe, including one man who had enclosed himself in an airtight plastic bag full of toxic ash.

Police initially detected 35 migrants trying to make it through the port in Melilla, the Spanish autonomous city in North Africa, during checks on Friday.

However, a second, more meticulous search for stowaways revealed that at least four people had tried to smuggle themselves to the Spanish mainland by hiding in a container full of discarded glass bottles destined for recycling.

Another migrant was detected inside a bag of incinerator ash and appeared to have lost consciousness before a police officer pulled him out.

Spanish police have found more than 1,780 migrants trying to make it to mainland Europe via the port in Melilla so far this year. EFE-EPA

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