Spain: SIVE comes into operation.
01 August 2002
In early August SIVE (Integrated External Surveillance System), the electronic border-sealing system officially came into operation. The mechanism combines radar towers for the detection of boats with infra-red cameras, cameras for night and day-time vision, on land-based platforms (both fixed and moving), as well as sea launches and helicopters. The project can detect a boat at a distance of 10 kilometres. The SIVE has been tested in the Canary Islands in the last months (see Statewatch vol 12 no 3 & 4). The first phase of the project covers the Cádiz coast, where large numbers of dinghies carrying migrants have been recorded. It will go on to cover a radius extending from Huelva to Almeria.