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Rabat – Morocco’s Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations (BCIJ) arrested six suspects for organizing irregular migration operations on January 31.
The suspects are part of a criminal network that used forged documents to make the process of visa applications easy for candidates, a statement from the BCIJ has said.
The BCIJ, an anti-terrorism unit with good reputation across the world, made the arrests in different cities including Casablanca, Rabat, Agadir, and Khouribga.
During the operation that led to the arrest, security services also seized several items that the network used for forgery, including a printer, a scanner, 34 stamps from public institutions, banks and local authorities, administrative documents on would-be illegal immigrants, 11 civil status documents, and 20 birth certificates.
Read Also: Morocco’s Cooperation Helped Spain to Cut Irregular Migration by More than Half
The police put the suspects in custody, pending further investigation to determine whether the network has possible links with other criminal gangs and individual accomplices.
The operation is part of Morocco’s approach to fight against organized crime, including irregular migration and drug trafficking networks.
Operations against irregular migration resulted in the arrest of 27,317 would-be migrants, including 20,141 of foreign nationality in 2019, according to the annual report from the General Directorate of National Security (DGSN).
Moroccans represented 26% of those arrested trying to migrate without documents.
The DGSN also seized 3,021 false travel and ID documents and arrested 505 organizers of undocumented migration involved in 62 criminal networks that traffick people in 2019.
