The Tetouan Prosecutor’s Office has prosecuted 25 people for crimes related to the organization of irregular crossings or the transport of passengers without a license in the context of the entry last Thursday of hundreds of thousands of migrants from Morocco to the autonomous city of Ceuta.
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Among the charges are also exceeding the allowed number of passengers; illegal stay in the country after the expiration of a visa; insults and assaults against members of the security forces; disobedience, as well as deliberate destruction of public property and facilities, according to the Hespress portal this week.
The Government of Morocco denied on Monday having acted under “pressure or blackmail” when tens of thousands of people crossed into Ceuta last Thursday and expressed its “disappointment” at the reactions of some European political leaders, whom it accused of trying to “instrumentalize” the migration crisis for their electoral interests.
Referring to the latest events in Ceuta, Moroccan diplomatic sources categorically denied to Europa Press that there has been a “relaxation” by the authorities of migration policies, while assuring that “whoever tries to cross” the border irregularly “knows they will be returned and that Morocco will accept their return,” a “commitment” that Rabat has maintained for “years.”
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The governments of the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla, however, have been denouncing Rabat’s permissiveness and argue that it is not possible that thousands of migrants moved without being detected by the authorities.
In 2024, Moroccan security forces already arrested 60 people for inciting and organizing a “massive illegal immigration operation” on social media, in Ceuta. At that time, the National Security Directorate detected an increase in messages on social media inciting entry into Ceuta and Melilla through “fake news.” Thirteen of those arrested were located in various Moroccan cities—from where they encouraged breaking into Ceuta on a specific Sunday in September—and the rest were intercepted upon arrival by trains and buses in Tangier, from where they intended to head to the border of the Spanish autonomous city, about 75 kilometers to the east.
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