On Saturday, Moroccan authorities announced that they successfully prevented an attempt by several hundred migrants, primarily from Sub-Saharan Africa, to cross into Ceuta. This group was concentrated on the outskirts of Fnideq, highlighting ongoing migration pressures in the region.
According to Moroccan security sources cited by EFE, the incident occurred in a mountainous area southwest of Ceuta, where law enforcement intervened to disperse the large assembly of individuals. Reports indicate that the migrants remain in the vicinity, and no new attempts to approach the border barrier have been reported at this time.
Increased Police Presence and Road Checks
The city of Fnideq awoke to a calm atmosphere on Saturday, albeit under a significant police presence. Authorities have implemented rigorous checks on the main access routes to the city, particularly those leading from Tétouan and Tangier. During the night, surveillance efforts intensified both on land and at sea near the Ceuta border, utilizing boats from the Moroccan Royal Navy and surveillance drones to monitor the situation closely.
Despite these heightened security measures, a 17-year-old girl managed to reach Fnideq overnight. She reported to EFE that she had traveled from Tétouan on a bus that underwent three separate checks over the roughly 35 kilometers separating the two cities, underscoring the extent of the filtering measures implemented by Moroccan authorities in the area.
The operation deployed on Saturday is part of a broader initiative by Rabat aimed at preventing a mass crossing attempt into Ceuta, which has been organized in response to messages circulating on social media. This call to action came just weeks after the tragic events of July 30 and 31, when tens of thousands of individuals attempted to reach the Spanish enclave on foot or by swimming. According to humanitarian organizations, this episode resulted in at least 141 fatalities, marking one of the deadliest tolls ever recorded at the Morocco-Spain border.
As reported by fr.news.yahoo.com.
