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Rabat – With no more than 21 cases for every 1,000 citizens per year, Morocco’s crime rate is one of the lowest in the world, alleged the Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Interior, Noureddine Boutayeb, on Monday.
This rate has generally stabilized since 2015, Boutayeb said, responding to a question in the House of Representatives on the security situation in Morocco.
Boutayeb indicated that the national security services have resolved, up until September 2017, about 378,974 cases, out of the 420,664 cases recorded, a rate of 92.33 percent, representing “one of the best rates recorded internationally,” he said.
With 402,384 people being brought to justice, Morocco has made momentous efforts in fighting illegal immigration networks, drug trafficking, and cross-border organized crime, said the minister.
More than 50,000 illegal migration attempts to Europe have been prevented, in addition to the dismantling of 73 criminal networks engaged in human trafficking, Boutayeb said.
In terms of fight drug trafficking, the authorities have seized more than 71 tons of chira and more than 2 and a half tons of cocaine that were destined to be transported to the United States and Southern Europe this year.
Is Boutayeb Right?
Numbeo, a database of perceived global crime rates, shows that by mid-2017, Morocco recorded a rate of 48.50 percent, the highest being in Venezuela at 82.42 percent.
Numbero’s findings suggest that although Morocco has a relatively low crime rate, the country did not account for “one of the best rates recorded internationally,” as Boutayeb said.
At the 43rd position out of 110 countries, the crime rate in Morocco is higher than it is in Tunisia, Turkey, and the United States.
However, Numbeo notes that it is difficult to accurately compare crime rates between countries, as clear data is not available for all countries, governments may forge crime data, and citizens of some countries may be more likely to report crimes than those of others.
