Moroccan security services have been intensifying operations in the fight to curb undocumented migration.
Rabat – Members of the Royal Navy and Royal Gendarmerie arrested 32 sub-Saharan candidates for irregular migrants in the city of Dakhla, southern Morocco, on Monday.
The list of migrants includes 17 women and a newborn, Maghreb Arab Press (MAP) reported.
The migrants were intending to cross to the Canary Islands via a small fishing boat. Royal Gendarmerie and Navy services arrested the migrants in line with standard monitoring operations to combat irregular migration.
Security services also seized a “large amount of fuel,” as well as other equipment.
The navy transferred the migrants to the Dakhla reception center in respect of the measures provided for the state of emergency.
Authorities opened an investigation to determine the circumstances of the case.
The operation is part of Morocco’s approach to combat irregular migration and human trafficking.
Morocco foiled over 74,000 migration attempts last year.
Data from the General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) in 2019 said national security services arrested 505 organizers of undocumented migration involved in 62 criminal networks that traffic people.
Operations against undocumented migration resulted in the arrest of 27,317 would-be irregular migrants, including 20,141 of foreign nationality.
Moroccans represented 26% of those arrested trying to migrate irregularly.
Monday’s operation is similar to scores of other security patrols to fight undocumented migration across the country.
One of the recent operations took place on June 19, when police arrested 23 migrants planning to reach European coasts through irregular migration.
