An operation led by the security forces of Morocco thwarted this Saturday an attempt to irregularly cross into the Spanish city autonomous city of Ceuta by hundreds of sub-Saharan migrants.
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According to Moroccan security sources cited by Efe, the police of that country intercepted 111 migrants, mostly sub-Saharan, who tried to reach the Ceuta border around noon and have detained 61 people for inciting illegal migration.
The tension was concentrated in the Moroccan town of Castillejos, neighboring Ceuta, when the Moroccan police intervened in a ravine in the Cerámica neighborhood to disperse hundreds of people waiting to attempt the crossing.
From that place, the authorities arranged buses for immediate forced transfers to towns in southern Morocco, such as Ouarzazate, more than 800 kilometers from the border
The forcefulness of the operation responds to the massive swimming incursion into Ceuta last July, which left a toll of 141 fatalities on both sides of the border.
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To avoid a similar scenario, the Moroccan police activated a contingent with helicopters, drones, and fast boats of the Royal Navy, as well as checkpoints on the routes connecting with Tetouan and Tangier.
In parallel, the authorities deployed another operation in the town of Melilla, about 400 kilometers east at the border crossing of Beni Ansar. However, there were no incidents and the passport control booths operated practically empty, according to authorities.
Likewise, the deployment was carried out in Mount Gurugú. The enclave historically used as a base camp by sub-Saharan migrants during the last decade remains under strict military control, with no traces of the makeshift settlements that used to populate its slopes.
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