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Rabat – Morocco’s Royal Navy rescued 183 would-be migrants from sub-Saharan Africa in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean between Friday and Saturday.
A military source told Morocco’s state media on Saturday, August 1 that the migrants were “in difficulty aboard makeshift boats in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.”
Morocco’ Royal Navy provided the migrants with the necessary first aid on board a coast guard patrol vessel. The coast guard transported the migrants to several Moroccan ports, where they were handed over to local authorities.
Morocco’s Royal Navy also rescued 93 people attempting irregular migration on June 17 and 18.
The rescued migrants, who were from sub-Saharan African countries, included 15 women and several minors.
Morocco serves both as a transit and a destination country for migrants.
The country has been strengthening its approach to fight irregular migration and human trafficking for years.
Morocco is also a key partner of the EU in its efforts to reduce irregular migration and human trafficking in the Mediterranean Basin.
Security operations enabled police to abort 74,000 irregular migration attempts in 2019.
According to a report from the General Directorate of National Security (DGSN), Moroccan police arrested 505 organizers of undocumented migration involved in 62 human trafficking networks in 2019.
Security 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 while trying to migrate without documents.
