Police cooperation with several African countries "prevented the arrival in Spain of over 27,000 migrants in 2023," Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said during a press conference on January 4.

Some 56,852 arrived in Spain last year, an 82% increase on the previous year.

'This means lives saved'

Grande-Marlaska said that the number of those that did not end up in Spain thanks to cooperation with countries of origin and transit for migrants was equal to "40% of irregular departures" and that this was an achievement due to operations conducted with Spain's assistance against "criminal organizations that engage in migrant trafficking."

This "means having saved lives", he said, by preventing migrants from undertaking "dangerous sea crossings in difficult conditions."

The interior minister cited bilateral cooperation accords with countries of origin and transit including Morocco, Senegal, Mauritania, and Gambia.

Arrivals in Canary Islands continue

Meanwhile, migrants continue to arrive in the Canary Islands, which had already seen a record-high number of arrivals in the last few months of 2023.

Between January 4 and 5, at least 381 people have been rescued at sea and brought to the archipelago, according to reports on Friday morning given by the local emergency services.

Of these migrants, 273 were disembarked on El Hierro, the smallest of the Canary Islands, and the others on Gran Canaria. Six were taken to the hospital for medical checks.