Rabat – Spanish civil guard members intercepted today, September 24, 19 Moroccan irregular migrants. The group of Moroccans, including one woman, are all aged between 20 and 40. They left the settlement of Benzu, in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, on an inflatable boat. The migrants were heading to Cadiz, in the southwest of Spain, according to Spanish newspaper El Faro de Ceuta.
The intervention of the Spanish civil guard took place around 3:15 a.m. The authorities noticed a boat going towards the Iberian Peninsula. The boat was in the water for more than two hours before being intercepted.
The Spanish authorities transferred the intercepted migrants to the local Red Cross center in Ceuta. The Red Cross team members carried out medical checks on the undocumented migrants at around 4:30 a.m.
After making sure that all the intercepted migrants were in good health, the civil guard of Ceuta transferred them to the police headquarters to start the procedure of sending them back to Morocco.
The Moroccan man who owns the inflatable boat was also arrested on the same night. He will face charges of human trafficking at a Spanish court.
Moroccans and irregular migrants from throughout Africa attempt to cross the Mediterranean sea to reach Europe on a daily basis. In August, spokesperson of the Moroccan government Mustapha El Khalfi said that security services aborted 57,000 irregular migration attempts in 2019.
