Denver – Morocco’s National Police officers have reportedly arrested hundreds of suspects in the continued crackdown on false COVID-19 documents throughout the country.
On Tuesday, the Moroccan government released a report indicating that 222 documents were seized during recent operations by law enforcement officials. The documents included both falsified PCR documents and fake vaccine passports.
In relation to the documents, police started legal proceedings for over 900 different injunctions within the framework of national security violations. Officials arrested 982 individuals during the course of the operations.
They also reported apprehending at international border crossings a significant number of alleged suspects who were in transit both to and from Morocco.
Of the international transit points, officers at Mohammed V airport arrested 99 individuals carrying illicit documents. Meanwhile, 95 suspects were arrested at the port of Nador, Nador Laroui airport officers arrested 69 suspects, and 25 individuals were arrested at the Marrakech-Menara airport. Beyond these large scale operations, officers at smaller airports also made several arrests during the investigations.
In addition to apprehending travellers holding falsified documents, police in the city of Oujda were also able to disrupt a criminal network manufacturing the documents on a large scale. The officers reportedly found “20 forged vaccination passports and important sums of money” after investigating suspects of different nationalities. Investigators believe the operations to be transnational, and many of the suspects are said to have links to the EU.
Police arrested both Moroccan and international individuals in the Oujda operation, and have transferred the investigation to the relevant public prosecutor in the region. Authorities in Rabat have also reported being increasingly concerned over the number of false COVID-19 documentation found during recent investigations.
As Moroccan health officials continue to battle resurgent infection rates throughout the country, the government has repeatedly extended the country’s national health emergency period.
With continued prosecution of violators of Morocco’s health laws, officials hope to contain the spread of COVID-19 and estimate a relatively secured national health situation by September.
