Rabat – The Spanish and Moroccan governments have agreed to return a group of Moroccans who swam to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from Fnideq, northern Morocco on April 26.
EFE said the Government Delegation in Ceuta confirmed that Spain has agreed with Morocco to repatriate Moroccans who entered the Spanish enclave swimming on Sunday.
The delegation did not reveal the exact number of irregular migrants who reached Ceuta by swimming from Fnideq but confirmed that all of the returnees are adults.
A statement from Morocco’s General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) said that Spain handed over 26 Moroccan irregular migrants to Morocco after their arrival in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta.
Morocco opened an investigation to determine links with any irregular migration networks involved.
Read Also: Videos of Mass Irregular Migration in Morocco Spark Socio-Economic Concerns
During the weekend, videos of a mass irregular migration attempt went viral on social networks.
Bad weather did not prevent dozens of individuals from attempting to swim to Ceuta.
Some Spanish sources said that at least one person died during the operation, while others have disappeared.
This is not the first attempt of irregular migrants to reach one of the Spanish enclaves. Viral videos shared on social networks show people attempting to cross the enclave into Spain.
While some succeeded in reaching the Spanish enclaves, others returned to Morocco after they failed to cross from Ceuta or Melilla to Spain.
Spanish and Moroccan police have repeatedly recovered the bodies of people who failed in the attempt.
Other videos and photos also show individuals, including minors, taking fishing boats in an attempt to reach Spain.
According to the annual report of the DGSN said that Moroccan police arrested 466 suspects allegedly linked to 123 human trafficking networks in 2020.
Police also prevented 9,179 candidates, including 6,162 of foreign nationalities, from leaving Morocco by irregular migration.
