Plus de 11 migrants tués en mer : l’homme derrière le drame de Saint-Louis tombe quatre ans après, la surprenante découverte sur son téléphone
The end of the line for Papa Demba W. He has been identified by the National Division for Combating Migrant Smuggling and Related Practices (DNLT) as the organizer of the migrant expedition that, in June 2022, resulted in the disappearance at sea of more than eleven people attempting to reach Spain. Departing from Bountoundour, in Saint-Louis, the victims perished after the pirogue that was supposed to take them from the coast to the larger vessel used to brave the ocean to reach the Canary Islands capsized.
"Despite the cries of distress from the survivors, who saw their parents fall into the water, the crew members at the time categorically refused to return to provide them with any assistance," recalls Libération, which gave the information in its edition this Monday.
Untraceable for four years and subject to an arrest warrant, Papa Demba W. was arrested on August 28. Investigators located him and cornered him in his family home in Bountoundour, according to the daily newspaper.
While he admitted to investigators that he organized the macabre journey, the newspaper continues, "he claimed to have never been aware of this tragedy." He swore that "on the day of departure, after witnessing the final transfer to the large boat, he left the shore before departing Saint-Louis and continuing on to Mbour," the same source reports.
While he might have hoped to get away with it using this alibi, Papa Demba W.'s situation worsened when the police examined his phone. Libération reports that investigators discovered he was preparing another clandestine trip to Spain, scheduled to depart last Saturday, for which he had already collected 1.5 million CFA francs from those planning to leave.
"The search for his accomplice in this latest irregular journey has so far been unsuccessful. But it is continuing," the newspaper reports. It also states that the suspect has been brought before the prosecutor in Saint-Louis on charges of criminal conspiracy, migrant smuggling by sea, endangering the lives of others, and manslaughter.
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