Police put all suspects in custody for further investigation.
Rabat – Moroccan police arrested six suspects in the cities of Nador and Taourirt, eastern Morocco, for their alleged links to a criminal network involved in irregular migration and human trafficking, on January 9.
Security services conducted the first arrest operation to apprehend a truck driver at the Taourirt toll station, a statement from the General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) ha said.
Investigations following the initial arrests led the police to arrest a second suspect, who was waiting to receive the two boats aboard a vehicle carrying false registration plates.
#مكافحة_الهجرة_غير_الشرعية
حجز ستة قوارب مطاطية ومعدات للملاحة البحرية في تاوريرت والناظور، يشتبه في استخدامها في تنظيم عمليات الهجرة غير المشروعة والاتجار بالبشر.
عملية أمنية ناجحة نفذتها مصالح الشرطة القضائية على ضوء معلومات دقيقة وفرتها المديرية العامة لمراقبة التراب الوطني. pic.twitter.com/o2yeBj3vnq— DGSN MAROC (@DGSN_MAROC) January 9, 2020
Police arrested four more suspects in Nador for their alleged involvement in the criminal network. Two of the suspects arrested in Nador were subject to a search warrant for drug trafficking and irregular migration.
Police also seized other inflatable boats, three engines, three compasses, and four airbag inflators, the DGSN added.
Police put the suspects in custody for further investigation to determine the circumstances of the case.
Morocco’s DGSN announced in its annual report in December that security services arrested 990 individuals suspected of being linked to 509 criminal theft networks on public highways.
They also arrested 505 organizers of undocumented migration involved in 62 criminal networks.
Operations against irregular migration resulted in the arrest of 27,317 would-be migrants, including 20,141 of foreign nationality. Moroccans represented 26% of those arrested trying to migrate without documents.
The DGSN also seized 3,021 false travel and ID documents.
