Tugboats are increasingly using high-speed boats, but authorities are not keeping pace with this trend

Tuesday, Nov 4, 2025

Der Standard

Smugglers use fast boats to evade authorities, while asylum applications and arrivals are decreasing across Europe.

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[This is an automatically generated summary, for reference only]

Smugglers are increasingly using fast boats that outpace authorities, allowing migrants to be rapidly delivered to beaches in Spain or Italy before police can react. While asylum and migration numbers in Europe have been declining for some time, with Austria seeing a 32 percent decrease in applications this year and Frontex reporting a 22 percent drop in arrivals across the EU during the first nine months of 2025, Spanish Guardia Civil forces are now struggling to keep up with these new fast boats.

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