MORONI (Reuters) – Authorities in Comoros have arrested a suspected people-smuggler in connection with an incident in which traffickers deliberately capsized a boat last week, killing at least 25 people on board, the coastguard said on Friday.
The boat overturned in the night of Oct. 30, during the 70 km (43 mile) journey from the Comorian island of Anjouan to Mayotte, a French overseas department in the Indian Ocean, said Fahmy Husny El-nassib, the head of the Comorian coastguard.
It was not immediately clear why the traffickers had capsized the boat, though El-nassib said the vessel had suffered engine trouble.
“The prosecutor of Mutsamudu (the largest city on Anjouan) informed me yesterday that one of the smugglers had indeed been arrested,” El-nassib told Reuters.
A security source said the arrested man was thought to be the head of a smuggler network and the owner of the boat.
The police and the prosecutor’s office did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.
The United Nations’ migration agency previously reported that the incident had occurred on the night of Nov. 1.
In the last few decades thousands of people have attempted to make the crossing to Mayotte, which has a higher standard of living and access to the French welfare system.
(Reporting by Abdou Moustoifa and Hereward Holland; Editing by Gareth Jones)
