CEUTA , Spain, Jan. 3 (UPI) — A 22-year-old woman traveling from Morocco into Ceuta, an autonomous Spanish city on the coast of North Africa, was caught attempting to smuggle a 19-year-old migrant from Gabon hidden inside a suitcase.
Spain’s Civil Guard said the woman was jailed on charges of crimes against the rights of foreign citizens for endangering the life of an undocumented person. Prosecutors have requested a seven-year prison sentence for the woman, who was arrested Saturday.
Officials at the customs office in Ceuta, one of two Spanish exclaves on North Africa’s Mediterranean coast, became suspicious when the woman attempted to “evade” service agents and seemed “nervous,” Ceutaldia reported. She drove from Morocco and attempted to cross into Ceuta while the migrant was hiding inside the suitcase.
Officials gave immediate medical attention to the migrant due to a lack of oxygen inside the small suitcase, Spain’s Civil Guard said.
