Social Issues

Morocco transfers 500 detained migrants to central cities

Rabat, Nov 7 (EFE).- Some 500 sub-Saharan migrants detained while trying to cross the Moroccan border into Spain’s Ceuta have been transferred to other cities in the center of the country, a security official said on Monday.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the security source told Efe that the arrests were carried out during raids in areas near the Spanish enclave, especially in the city of Tetouan and the M’diq-Fnideq Prefecture, over the weekend.

He added that there were also operations against migrants who were allegedly preparing to break through the border separating Morocco and Ceuta. According to the official, those arrested were among around 1,000 sub-Saharans estimated to be in the area near the tiny Spanish territory.

Dozens of migrants were waiting to board buses in the town of Fnideq early on Monday, witnesses told Efe.

On Sunday, Moroccan police arrested 11 sub-Saharan people in the northern city of Tangier and confiscated handmade hooks that migrants use to climb metal fences separating Ceuta and Melilla from Morocco.

These latest arrests took place during an operation at a train station in Tangier, located 50 kilometers away from Ceuta, Morocco’s General Directorate for National Security said in a statement on Monday.

Those arrested were investigated under the supervision of the public prosecutor’s office to see whether they are linked to human traffickers, according to the statement.EFE

ms/smq/jt

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