The latest weapon in the battle against illegal immigration comes in the form of a satellite system, which will track the movements of migrant vessels from the coast of North Africa.

The technology, which has been named the “Sea Horse” system, is capable of tracking the movements of people attempting to abscond from Africa and illegally land on the shores of European countries, particularly Spain and Portugal.

The new system will enable police forces in the partaking countries to distinguish any illegal activities, namely illegal immigration and drug trafficking, by a single high-speed communications and data network. A coordination centre has been set up in Gran Canaria’s capital Las Palmas where officials receive information about immigration flows and suspicious ships sent from the individual surveillance stations established in coastline cities such as Praia in Cape Verde and Dakar in Senegal. Police will then be able to plot charts and prepare the interception of illegal vessels.

The 1.8 million euro project has been funded by the European Union and was developed by Spain’s leading IT and defense systems company Indra, which is one of the most prominent IT companies in Europe and Latin America. Miguel Marquez from Indra believes that although the satellite technology is not unique, used in these circumstances it will unquestionably reduce the number of illegal immigrants arriving in Europe from Africa. He commented,

“It is the most sophisticated network of its kind in Europe. It uses technology that already existed but had never been applied to illegal immigration before.”

Although various methods have been used to curtail the vast numbers of immigrants seeking a new life in Europe, including Spanish aircrafts patrolling the waters, illegal immigration and drug trafficking is still rife between South Atlantic counties. The major advantage of the Sea Horse system is that increases the cooperation of authorities from Spain, Portugal and North African countries and in doing so may also help assuage other problems. A spokesperson for Indra announced,

“The Sea Horse network is a step towards an international information exchange that will improve relationships and coordination between countries in areas other than illegal information and drug trafficking.”

The first week of 2009 saw 151 immigrants arrive at Spain’s shorelines, a number which has been considerably reduced as a result of pioneering Sea Horse system and the consequent collaboration between both continents.

Gabrielle Pickard for RT