Criminals can pocket thousands of euros for transporting a single migrant.

A migrant smuggler has given an exclusive interview to El Espanol, revealing how he smuggles illegal migrants from the African continent to the Canary Islands. He provided detailed insights into the lucrative sums involved and explained how he evades the authorities. Ely, a notorious Mauritanian seafarer who has successfully overseen four migrant crossings to the Canary Islands, told the news agency that he operates out of Nouadhibou in Mauritania. He described himself as a skilled navigator rather than a human smuggler.

„I am a seafarer. I know how to navigate. If boats do not make it, it is because those in charge do not know what they are doing,”

– he said. He claimed to have completed four crossings without any casualties, a rare feat on this perilous migration route. According to Ely, he earns between 3,000 and 6,000 euros per trip, depending on market conditions. “It is simple economics—supply and demand. Right now, there are not many captains available. Just the other day, I was offered 7,000 euros for a crossing, but I turned it down because my mother is ill.”

He contrasted this with the modest income he could earn from fishing, stating that it would take him nearly three years to make what he earns from a single smuggling trip—one that is completed in just 72 hours.

To avoid patrols, he first sets a course towards the Americas before veering back towards the Canary Islands, taking advantage of ocean currents. Controlling passengers presents another challenge. “The hardest part is keeping people calm. If they panic and everyone moves to one side, the boat will sink.” He travels with two trusted crew members to maintain order during the journey but admitted that rough weather can make this difficult. “If the sea gets stormy, we just pray.”

Upon reaching Spanish waters, migrants are instructed to deny any knowledge of who the boat’s captain is. This tactic helps avoid prosecution in Spain for facilitating illegal immigration—an offence that could carry a prison sentence of up to eight years for the captain.

Despite having been detained multiple times in Spain, Ely has almost always been deported rather than imprisoned—at the taxpayers’ expense. “The Spanish authorities know who I am. But every time, they just send me back to Mauritania—and they pay for my plane ticket!”