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A court in Cartagena has cleared an Algerian man of piloting a boat carrying 11 people to the coast of the Region of Murcia, ruling that there wasn’t enough evidence to convict him of a crime against the rights of foreign citizens.

 

The Public Prosecutor’s Office had asked for an eight-year prison sentence, arguing that the defendant was the captain and the person responsible for steering the vessel to Cabo de Palos.

 

The case dates back to December 10, 2025, when a Guardia Civil patrol intercepted a small boat close to the Gola de Marchamalo after a sighting was reported near the Islas Hormigas. According to the officers, they saw the defendant steering with his hand on the tiller for the last 15 minutes of the journey before the boat reached land.

 

Even so, the Provincial Court concluded that nothing proved he’d organised the crossing from Algeria, coordinated the piloting shifts over the two days at sea or profited from the money the other passengers paid. The ruling pointed out that the ten other people on board told investigators the journey was made in shifts, with most of them taking a turn. Their statements also cleared him of collecting the money at the point of departure, with the fares instead being gathered by third parties on the Algerian coast.

 

The judges also looked at a photo of bundles of banknotes on the defendant’s mobile phone and the cash found among his belongings, but decided that neither was enough to show the money came from organising the crossing.

 

Applying the presumption of innocence, the court ordered his immediate release. He’d been in pretrial detention since December 12, 2025.

 

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