The mayor of the island town of Dionewar (central Senegal), Lansana Sarr, has been arrested after confessing to having received a large sum of money from a courier of irregular migrants bound for Spain.
The mayor of Dionewar, a commune in the Fatick region of the Saloum Islands (central Senegal), was arrested on Friday, March 14, by the Foundiougne gendarmerie, a few hours after intercepting a pirogue carrying 547 people on the way to Spain.
During his grilling by investigators, he owned up to receiving two million CFA francs, approximately $3,300, from one of the couriers, who was also arrested by law enforcement, according to local newspaper reports.
L’Observateur, citing the courier, reported that the money was to be given to public officials responsible for combating irregular immigration to facilitate the passage of the two makeshift
canoes during the sea crossing.
However, Sarr, a postal executive, refuted this claim, stating that the sum was intended to hire a lawyer to defend the individuals in the event of a failed bid to reach Spain.
The same medium reports that, during the confrontation, Sarr was unsettled by his numerous phone conversations with the courier. The newspaper indicates that a search conducted by the Fatick
public prosecutor revealed that the two men had exchanged numerous calls during the preparations for the aborted voyage.
Prosecuted for “criminal conspiracy in aggravated circumstances,” the mayor of Dionewar and his alleged accomplices, including a woman who received five million CFA francs ($8,200) from a courier, will be brought before the Judicial and Financial Pool (PJF) prosecutor’s office in the next few hours.
Reacting to the case, the Executive Director of Amnesty International Senegal, Seydi Gassama, called for tougher penalties for those who fuel migrant trafficking.
“Senegal is not a country at war. There is no famine or natural disaster. Prison sentences must be toughened for those who, both couriers and parents, endanger the lives of children and minors by putting them aboard the deathboats,” he said on X-rated radio.
This incident comes as Senegal has been facing mass departure waves to the Canary Islands for several months.
Interior Minister General Jean Baptiste Tine revealed some alarming figures: between January and October 2024, 502 pirogue departures were recorded from the Senegalese coast. Of these boats, approximately 64 reached the Canary Islands, carrying some 34,162 migrants.
“Senegal, as a country of departure, transit, and destination, finds itself at the crossroads of these migratory dynamics, with significant impacts both on the migrants themselves and on our policies,” General Tine said during the installation of the regional and departmental committee for the fight against migration in Ziguinchor in January.
ODL/ac/fss/as/APA