Operation SOPHIA: one year ago, the first flight for Detachment Grappa
On September 2015, the Spanish contingent at Sigonella base was established and a P-3_Orion of the 22nd Group flew for the first time in a reconnaissance survey mission on international waters off the coast of Libya.
On September 2015, the Spanish contingent at Sigonella base was established and a
of the 22nd Group flew for the first time in a reconnaissance survey mission on international waters off the coast of Libya.
Few days after, a
of the 801st Squadron took off at sunrise to look for suspicious activities related to human smuggling and trafficking in the Southern Central Mediterranean sea, as part of
During this whole year, the Spanish contingent has flown 1100 hours, in 150 missions, has contributed effectively to detect and identify boats involved in suspicious activity, reporting all the information to the Commander of the Task Force at sea. Nonetheless, the Spanish detachment Grappa has contributed to save lives at sea. The air assets are a key part of operation SOPHIA and since now, they have done an outstanding job on collecting all the due evidences of human smuggling activities.
Thus far, following EUNAVFOR MED operation SOPHIA’s activities, 89 suspected smugglers and traffickers have been prosecuted by the Italian authorities and 299 boats have been prevented from being re-used by smugglers and, consequently, more than 26400 migrants have been rescued directly by Sophia’s assets.
Nonetheless, more than 38.000 lives were saved at sea thanks to the contribution of EUNAVFOR MED assets, among them, the Spanish Detachment Grappa assets.