The number of crimes reported in the Canary Islands has skyrocketed during the first quarter of the year, with an increase of 22.5% in crime compared to 2021. In addition, the report from the Ministry of the Interior warns of the increase in crimes of rape, which have increased by 36.4%, as well as robberies with violence (43% more) or drug trafficking, which reaches an increase of 74%.
At the head of crime are the islands with the largest population, Tenerife and Gran Canaria, with increases of 36% and 18.9% respectively, followed by Fuerteventura and El Hierro, with 9.1% and 55.6% more than crimes. In this sense, crime fell by 19.4% in La Palma, 10.2% in La Gomera and 0.7% in Lanzarote.
Between January and March in the Canary Islands, 23,658 criminal offenses were reported, 4,349 more than in the same quarter last year.
In the first three months of 2022, there have been 30 sexual assaults, 3 intentional homicides and completed murders, 6,336 thefts, 426 robberies with violence and intimidation, 1 kidnapping, 230 vehicle thefts and 199 drug trafficking crimes.
On the other hand, the Canary Islands remain below the national average, where crime has grown in the first three months of the year by almost 28% compared to the same period in 2021. The crime rate at the beginning of the year in Spain is 43, 8 criminal offenses per 1,000 inhabitants, where computer fraud stands out as the fastest growing crime.
On the other hand, the Canary Islands are above in the number of complaints for sexual crimes, which while at the national level have risen 21.6%, 27.7% in the case of rapes, in the first quarter, on the islands it rose 15 more points. In Spain, a total of 4,191 crimes against sexual indemnity have been registered between January and March, compared to 3,446 in the same period of 2021, while rapes in the first quarter of 2022 have increased from 426 in 2021 to 544 this year.
