Over 60 illegal immigrants were arrested on Sunday off Spain's Canary Islands when they were trying to reach Spain by sea, the Spanish Civil Guard said.

The 62 detainees, believed to be from sub-Sahara, were arrested aboard a fishing boat Sunday morning off the coast of the Canary Island of Tenerife, the police said, adding that the boat probably started off from Mauritania about one week ago.

Thousands of people from the sub-Saharan region try to reach Europe illegally through Spain every year.

About 4,000 illegal African immigrants were detained when they made the crossing in the first three months of 2006 alone. The number was 4,751 in the whole year of 2005.

Source: Xinhua