The National Police screened 4,646 third-country travellers arriving in Spain on 409 flights from Italy up to 13:00 on Sunday, according to the Ministry of Interior. The checks form part of random operations established in response to the migration situation in that country.
A total of 637 officers from the National Police participated in the checks, which began on 8 August, according to data provided by the ministry. The inspections are carried out on passengers from Italian flights and focus on citizens of countries not belonging to the European Union as part of the border surveillance adopted by Spanish authorities.
Sunday's operations were conducted at 14 airports: Adolfo Suárez Madrid Barajas, El Prat in Barcelona, Málaga, Seville, Valencia, Alicante, Bilbao, Palma de Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Tenerife South and Lanzarote.
The Government established these border checks with Italy from the Saturday of the previous week, with initial validity until 7 September, after Italy refused to lift its own checks on travellers coming from Spain. This decision was adopted following the mass arrival of people in Ceuta from Morocco.