Twelve Moroccan citizens attempting to migrate without documents were subject to investigation.
Rabat – Police in Tangier aborted on Sunday evening an irregular migration attempt, Morocco’s General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) reported on Monday.
During the operation, police arrested four individuals for their alleged links with a criminal network active in the organization of human trafficking and irregular migration.
Police arrested the suspects in the Harrarine, a district in Tangier, while they were preparing an operation of irregular migration via sea routes.
Security services also arrested 12 Moroccan citizens who were candidates for irregular migration.
Primary research and investigations show that the suspects received a sum estimated at MAD 260,000 ($28,160).
Search operations enabled police to the money, which could have resulted from “this criminal activity [irregular migration],” DGSN reported.
Police put the main suspects in custody, while the irregular migration candidates were subjected to an investigation to determine the circumstances of the case and to arrest potential accomplices.
In addition to DGSN, all other security services in Morocco team up against this type of crime.
The Royal Navy, Royal Gendarmerie, and Moroccan police are all involved in Morocco’s approach against human trafficking and irregular migration.
One of the most recent security operations was last Wednesday when police arrested a man for his alleged links with a network active in the organization of irregular migration.
He was trying to transport maritime navigation equipment to Morocco’s coast from a tourist complex in Oujda, eastern Morocco, when officers arrested him.
DGSN said in 2019 in its annual report that it arrested 505 organizers of undocumented migration invovled in 62 criminal neworks that traffick people.
Operations against irregular migration resulted in the arrest of 27,317 would-be migrants, including 20,141 of foreign nationality.
According to DGSN’s statistics, Moroccans represented 26% of those arrested trying to migrate without documents.
