Information from the Spanish Guardia Civil’s Fiscal Brigade states the immigrant was discovered last Friday afternoon in the vehicle’s boot, hidden among suitcases that blocked her from being seen from inside the car.
Ceuta is an 18.5-square-kilometre Spanish city located on the north coast of Africa and shares a western border with Morocco.
The car had a Portuguese registration plate and the 19-year-old girl had no type of documentation on her that allowed her to legally enter Spain.
A source from the Guardia Civil told Lusa News Agency that the Portuguese national was detained for “an offence against the rights of foreign citizens” and will now face a judge in a court in Spain.
“The way he tried to get the young girl in didn’t immediately put her life in danger” the source said, explaining she wasn’t “inside a suitcase or near the engine”, and following a recent law reform in Spain the Portuguese man will “certainly only have to face one administrative sanction.”
Since the Spanish Penal Code reform, such an act – hiding a person among luggage and not inside it – prevents the person being smuggled from having their life put at risk, and hence also avoids greater penalties in the event of being caught.
Therefore, transporting migrants without putting their lives at risk does not normally result in action any heavier than a fine.
Press in Ceuta reported that the reform has seen criticism from local authorities who believe punishment is too light and can encourage people to follow the procedure.
In related news, a Portuguese baby has been killed in a car crash in Spain. The infant’s mother was taken to hospital in a serious condition.
According to newspaper Correio da Manhã the seven-month-old boy was killed on Sunday evening in a car crash in Valladolid, when the Portuguese couple and their son were travelling back to France after holidaying in Portugal.