Incredible moment migrants are detained on Spanish beach after being tackled to the ground by tourists
The dramatic scenes unfolded on Sotillo Beach in Castell de Ferro, Granada on Sunday afternoon.
Footage shared online shows a speed boat packed with young men arriving at the shore at around 2pm.
The occupants of the boat dive into the water in front of stunned holidaying families and swim to the beach before making a run for it.
Witnesses branded the scenes as 'surreal'.
Restaurant owner Alberto Garcia told local newspaper Ideal: 'We all stood there staring, not quite knowing what was happening.
'We thought it was a recreational boat, but when we saw that they started throwing objects into the water and people starting to get out, we realised it wasn't normal.
'What surprised us most was that the boat was moving very slowly, as if they weren't in a hurry or afraid.
Dozens of boat migrants were tackled and detained by tourists after landing on a packed Spanish beach
'They went in where there were most people, as if nothing had happened, and stopped five metres from the shore.
'Then they jumped off one by one, and the four remaining on board, some of them hooded, calmly turned around and left.'
Around 13 men, believed to be of Moroccan origin, jumped out of the boat.
According to witnesses, some of the migrants ran along the beach as soon as they reached dry land, while others tried to blend in with the crowd.
However, some beach goers detained them until the Guardia Civil arrived, with footage showing a man in swimming trunks pinning one of the migrants to the ground.
The Polica Local de Castell de Ferro added: 'The lifeguards alerted us, and we managed to catch one on the street. Then we helped identify two more.
'The Civil Guard did the bulk of the work and managed to arrest nine.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
6 hours ago
- Telegraph
Police face weeks-long delay before they can reveal suspects' nationalities
Police face a weeks-long delay before they are allowed to reveal suspects' nationalities because Downing Street is waiting for new independent guidance before changing the rules. Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, is urging forces to give more information about suspects' nationalities and migration status after Reform accused Warwickshire Police of a 'cover-up' over the rape of a 12-year-old girl in Nuneaton. However, an official rule change on when foreigners can be publicly identified as suspects has been delayed because of a review that is not expected to be published until the autumn. It came amid criticism of the Government's broader strategy on illegal migration, after Ms Cooper was unable to say whether a new deal with the French would allow small boat migrants to be deported this month. Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, warned that the deal was 'wide open to abuse' because France does not have to share any data on who is coming to Britain – meaning new arrivals could include criminals and terrorists. Ministers have asked the Law Commission, an independent advisory body, to update guidance on contempt of court rules, which currently prevent police or officials from giving details about suspects. The review, commissioned in February, is not expected to report until the autumn, and a change in guidance for police forces could be implemented weeks after that. Without an urgent change, ministers fear a repeat of the riots that followed the Southport stabbings last summer, while Downing Street has said police should be more 'transparent' about their suspects. There is concern among law enforcement officials and in Whitehall that public debate about crime by migrants and the threat of violent protests at asylum hotels will culminate into a summer of 'disorder' on the streets. Ms Cooper told the BBC on Tuesday: 'We do want to see more transparency in cases, we think local people do need to have more information.' One police leader told The Telegraph that while the previous system of 'saying as little as possible in order to preserve a fair trial' had worked well in the past, the rise of social media had 'driven a coach and horses' through that approach. He said the absence of information all too often created a vacuum, which was filled by mis- or disinformation, and said the risk to public order meant police must provide more information. The review of police protocol follows inaccurate speculation on social media of the Southport attacker's identity last year, with users alleging that Axel Rudakubana was an illegal immigrant. George Finch, the 19-year-old Reform leader of Warwickshire county council, on Monday accused the Government of covering up alleged crime by migrants in Nuneaton, claiming that the two men charged with the rape of a 12-year-old girl were Afghan. That claim has not been confirmed by police. There is not currently any guidance issued to forces about disclosing the ethnicity or immigration status of an individual on charge. The rules state only that a suspect should be named unless there is an exceptional and legitimate policing purpose for not doing so, or if reporting restrictions apply. Philip Seccombe, the Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner, has said that any release of information by police should 'follow national guidance and legal requirements'. The review of the guidelines on contempt of court was commissioned by Ms Cooper, Shabana Mahmood, the Justice Secretary, and Lord Hermer, the Attorney General, earlier this year. The Law Commission's review is expected to find that police officials and ministers should be allowed to reveal more information about suspects in cases where there is a 'threat of serious public disorder'. However, despite a request from ministers to publish new guidelines 'as soon as feasible', the body is not expected to report for some weeks. The delay has effectively left police forces defenceless against accusations of a cover-up, while Downing Street is urging them to make more information available. Another senior officer told The Telegraph any change to the rules would create new issues for the police because they do not routinely collect nationality and ethnicity data unless it is relevant to an investigation. 'The police's job is about gathering evidence and I can see some real practical difficulties in requiring forces to provide extra information,' the officer said. A Home Office source said: 'Not only are we deporting foreign criminals at a rate that Chris Philp and Robert Jenrick never managed when they were in charge at the Home Office, but we are also publishing far more information about that group of offenders than the Tories ever did.' Sir Keir is separately facing criticism over the one in, one out migrant deal agreed with Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, under which migrants who come to the UK illegally are meant to be swapped for people in France who have a legitimate asylum claim in Britain. The Prime Minister announced on Monday that the process of deporting the first Channel migrants under the deal will begin within days. But Mr Philp said the details of the agreement, published on Tuesday, show it will be a 'lawyer's paradise' that will make it too easy for migrants to stay. The agreement states that people who have made 'clearly unfounded' claims under the Human Rights Act will not automatically be deported, meaning lawyers will be able to create lengthy delays. The agreement states that anyone claiming to be under the age of 18 will be able to stay in the UK. Mr Philp said that because Britain does not carry out robust age checks, it means that people in their 20s who could they are under 18 could be allowed to stay. In addition, under the deal France will not have to hand over any data on the people they are sending to the UK, meaning they could be criminals or terrorists. 'This deal is unworkable and wide open to abuse,' he said. 'It's exactly what we've been warning about – a bureaucrat's dream and a lawyer's paradise set to prevent people ever being returned to France. 'There are no numbers specified, presumably because they are so small they would embarrass the Home Secretary. France won't even tell us any information about who we have to accept back, so they could be criminals or terrorists, and we wouldn't know. 'This is a pathetic deal, which simply won't work. No wonder this Government has presided over the worst channel crossing figures in history.'
The Guardian
7 hours ago
- The Guardian
Disputed or debunked claims about migration and crime in the UK
Several politicians have got into hot water for promoting and repeating misleading data in recent months, particularly about migration and crime. There have been calls for the government and police forces to be more transparent about the figures to tackle misinformation and hysteria. Here are some of the high-profile claims that have been disputed or debunked. Conservative Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, said on Radio 4's Today programme on Monday that 40% of sexual crimes in London last year were committed by foreign nationals. The claim was sourced from the Centre for Migration Control (CMC), a thinktank and blog that describes its purpose as 'controlling and reducing migration to Britain'. It is run by the Reform UK activist Robert Bates. CMC's claims come from the Metropolitan police's response to a freedom of information request. The Met issued a breakdown of the number of people who had been proceeded against – ie brought before a court – for sexual offences by nationality. This does not mean they have been found guilty of committing the offence as Jenrick said. For example, there were 14,242 defendants brought to court for sexual offences at magistrates courts in England and Wales in 2024, but 8,098 convictions, according to Ministry of Justice statistics. 'Some of the data we're seeing is very striking,' Jenrick also said. 'Afghans and Eritrean nationals are 20 times more likely to be convicted of a sexual crime than a British national.' The statistic about Afghans has been repeated by Reform UK's chair, Zia Yusuf. This is a muddled figure that also came from the CMC, after it submitted freedom of information requests to the MoJ. It is based on population statistics from 2021 but data on offences covering the years between 2021 and 2023. That means the statistic is likely to be based on a significant underestimate of the number of Afghan and Eritrean nationals in the UK – meaning the comparison with British rates is unlikely to be 20 times as high. Immigration to the UK from Afghanistan has risen significantly since 2021 because of the Taliban's return to power, while Eritrean migration has also risen due to wars in Eritrea, Sudan and Ethiopia. The Guardian contacted Jenrick for comment. Nick Timothy, the Conservative MP for West Suffolk, deleted a post on X this week that accused the Metropolitan police of 'facilitating illegal working'. He had shared a photo that appeared to show police officers escorting a Deliveroo driver through a crowd of protesters outside a hotel. The original post claimed to depict how 'an illegal Deliveroo worker is literally getting a full police escort'. The Met replied that 'this person was delivering to the hotel, they were not being accommodated there. There is no evidence to suggest they were working illegally. They were surrounded and intimidated by those gathered outside and officers intervened to make sure they got away safely.' The context is that companies including Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats have committed to tighten security checks after reports some asylum seekers were working illegally as couriers. Earlier this year, there was a controversy over a Telegraph front page report that said as many as one in 12 people living in London were illegal immigrants. The story included quotes from Chris Philp, the Conservative shadow home secretary, who called the figures 'deeply alarming' and said it was 'totally unacceptable to have these numbers of illegal immigrants in the UK'. The Telegraph and several other newspapers had to issue corrections for misrepresenting the findings in several ways. The one in 12 statistic was based on an unpublished study commissioned by Thames Water to measure the demand for water supply. The study concluded that there could be between 390,355 and 585,533 irregular – not illegal – migrants in and around London. The Telegraph used the higher figure and divided it by the 7 million population living in specific 'water resource zones', rather than the 9 million population of London. Most importantly, the Thames Water study was seeking to estimate the number of people who use water that are not in official statistics so included not just migrants but those with second homes, visitors and tourists. It also included people given indefinite leave to remain, as well as some British-born children of migrants with irregular status. The most recent official estimates for the number of irregular migrants in the UK date from 2017. The Pew Research Center said the number was between 800,000 to 1.2 million, while the Greater London Authority's central estimate for the whole of the UK was 674,000 – going up to 809,000 when including UK-born children of unauthorised migrants. At a press conference on Monday, Nigel Farage told TV crews that he would discuss an open criminal investigation – the alleged rape of a child. But he said there would be nothing in the press conference that would go against contempt of court laws. Two men have been charged in connection with the alleged crime. When an alleged perpetrator has been charged, there are strict rules about what can be reported, to prevent prejudicing and potentially collapsing a trial. However, the leader of Warwickshire county council, George Finch, later made a number of references, including referring to the men as 'criminals' when they have not been found guilty. Farage then defended Finch when questioned as to whether he had broken contempt laws, saying it was 'good' that he had become 'slightly emotional'. The issue of naming the race of alleged perpetrators has been in the public eye since a baseless social media conspiracy theory surrounding Axel Rudakubana, the Southport murderer. After he killed three young children in July 2024, it was purported on social media that authorities were covering up his true place of birth. Rudakubana, who was born in Cardiff to Rwandan parents, was falsely portrayed in a variety of social media posts as being a Muslim asylum seeker.
The Independent
8 hours ago
- The Independent
3 African nations have agreed to take deportees from the US. What we know about the secretive deals
Rwanda has become the third African nation to enter into a deal with the Trump administration to accept migrants deported by the United States. The Rwandan government said Tuesday it has agreed to accept up to 250 deportees from the U.S. for resettlement but didn't immediately give any more details, including when they would arrive or what Rwanda got, if anything, out of the deal. The U.S. has already deported eight men it said were dangerous criminals who were in the U.S. illegally to South Sudan and another five to Eswatini. Here's what we know, and still don't know, about U.S. President Donald Trump's expanding third-country deportation program in Africa and the largely secretive deals the U.S. is striking. The U.S. State Department and the Department of Homeland Security haven't responded to requests seeking more details on the deals in Africa. South Sudan The U.S. sent eight men from South Sudan, Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar and Vietnam to South Sudan in East Africa in early July after their deportations were held up by a legal challenge. That led to them being kept for weeks in a converted shipping container at an American military base in nearby Djibouti. U.S. officials said the men had been convicted of violent crimes in the U.S. When it took custody of them a month ago, the South Sudan government said it would ensure their 'safety and wellbeing' but has declined to give other details, including where the men are being held and what their fate might be. South Sudan has been wracked by conflict since it gained independence from Sudan in 2011 and is teetering on the edge of civil war again. Eswatini Two weeks after the South Sudan deportations, the U.S. announced that it had sent another five men — citizens of Vietnam, Jamaica, Cuba, Yemen and Laos — to the small kingdom of Eswatini in southern Africa. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said they were also violent criminals whose home countries had refused to take them back. Eswatini's government said the men would be held in solitary confinement until their repatriation, and later said that might take up to a year. A human rights lawyer in Eswatini has taken authorities to court alleging the men are being denied legal representation while being held in a maximum-security prison, and questioning the legality of detaining them indefinitely when they have served their criminal sentences in the U.S. U.S. authorities didn't name the men or say if they had been deported straight from prison or detained in another way. Eswatini, which borders South Africa, is one of the world's last absolute monarchies. King Mswati III has ruled since he turned 18 in 1986. Authorities under him are accused of violently subduing pro-democracy movements in a country where political parties are effectively banned. Rwanda Rwanda's deal with the U.S. comes after a contentious migrant agreement it reached with the U.K. in 2022 collapsed and was ruled unlawful by Britain's Supreme Court. That deal was meant to see people seeking asylum in the U.K. sent to Rwanda, where they would stay if their asylum applications were approved. The failed deal ultimately cost the U.K. nearly a billion dollars in public money, including around $300 million that it gave to Rwanda and didn't get back. Rwanda said that the deportees it will take from the U.S. will be resettled there and given work training, healthcare and help with accommodation. Analysts say that African nations might be seeking a range of benefits from the Trump administration in return for taking deportees, including more favorable tariff rates, aid and other financial assistance, and even the easing of sanctions against some of their officials. ___
