In the city of Granada, Spanish police have detained two men of Moroccan origin suspected of abandoning a 17-year-old minor. They have also been charged with facilitating irregular immigration, after the minor was brought by sea from Morocco by one of the men, who is his uncle. According to a press release issued by Spanish police on Tuesday, the two men—the minor's uncle and a family friend—concocted a plan to stage the minor's abandonment. They pretended to have found him wandering the streets of Granada and attempted to hand him over to a local police station. The events began several weeks ago when the uncle transported the minor by sea to a province neighboring Granada. After staying with his uncle for a few days, the boy was entrusted to the family friend, who took him to Granada. This person was instructed to pretend he had found the minor lost in the city and then bring him to the authorities. The objective, police say, was to «forcibly place the minor in a shelter in Granada, later obtain a residence permit, and eventually enable the reunification of the rest of his family living in Morocco». Upon the minor's arrival at the police station in the northern part of the city, officers initiated procedures to temporarily place him in a youth shelter under the authority of the Andalusian regional government. An investigation was also opened to verify his identity, family background, and personal circumstances. The inquiry revealed that the minor's parents reside in Morocco and had given their consent for his uncle, who is legally living in Spain, to bring him into the country with the intent of enrolling him in a youth shelter to benefit from state-provided housing, food, and education. Both the uncle and the family friend were arrested and charged with abandoning a minor and facilitating irregular immigration. They were later released pending a court hearing.
