A group of 72 migrants were handed over to the National Division for Combating Migrant Smuggling and Related Practices (DNLT). According to Seneweb, they were apprehended during an operation conducted this Tuesday by officers from the Medina, Point E, and Reubeuss police stations. This followed the arrival in Soumbedioune of a pirogue from The Gambia.

The incident occurred early this morning in Soumbédioune. Police in the Medina district were alerted around 7:40 a.m. to the presence of a boat carrying undocumented migrants. According to initial reports, the pirogue had been spotted around 6:30 a.m. with approximately one hundred people on board. Upon arriving at the scene, officers found that the boat's occupants had already dispersed. The boat's equipment had also been removed before the arrival of law enforcement.

The ensuing investigation led police to a house in Gueule-Tapée, where several migrants had taken refuge. There, the occupants stated they had left Gambia aboard a pirogue carrying a total of 165 passengers, including men, women, and minors.

The migrants found in this house were all of Malian nationality and 51 people were arrested there, before 16 other migrants were arrested in the streets of the Medina during sweep operations.

The stowaways also revealed to investigators that the boat's captain had left with several women and underage passengers, further complicating the tracking of the other occupants of the canoe.

An investigation is underway at the DNLT.