Rabat – A total of 141 criminals with international arrest warrants on their backs have been anticipated in Morocco in 2016 – up from 75 last year, according to new data released by the General Directorate for National Security (DGSN) on Tuesday.
Exactly 120 other suspects of international concern were arrested in Morocco, double the 2015 total of 59.
The increase in activity was related to the kingdom’s commitment to fighting drug trafficking and dismantling criminal networks dangerous to the public, according to the national police network.
Domestically, 466,997 people suspected of committing a crime were arrested in 2016 – a 23 percent increase from the 2015 figure.
The police’s work in educational institutions has been particularly strong. The DGSN supervised the security of 4,513 campuses during the 2015-2016 school year and has managed to arrest 4,904 suspects.
The data release on Tuesday comes as part of the DGSN review of security upgrades in the kingdom over the past year. The agency said it aimed to improve the readiness of the national police force while improving the quality and quantity of services it provided to citizens.
“This strategy has made it possible, through the year 2016, to lay the basic foundations of good governance in the financial and administrative management, and strengthen the integrity of synthesis mechanisms and staff capacity building, which reflects positively on the quality of security services provided to citizens, and contribute to the improvement of readiness and effectiveness in accordance with the operational interests of security,” the DGSN’s statement read.
