Morocco’s Royal Navy Rescue 180 Migrants Attempting to Reach Canary Islands

Rabat – Two Royal Navy Coast Guards came to the aid of 180 individuals attempting to migrate to Europe irregularly on Sunday.

The incident occurred between Laayoune and Tarfaya, where three boats were carrying migrants destined for the Canary Islands.

According to the General Staff of the Royal Armed Forces, among those rescued were 93 Moroccans and 87 Sub-Saharan Africans.

The Coast Guards transferred all individuals onto their vessels, where they received immediate medical attention.

The rescued migrants were transported back to the ports of Laayoune and Tarfaya. Upon arrival, they were handed over to the Royal Gendarmerie to undergo standard administrative procedures.

The operation is part of Morocco’s ongoing effort to fight against human trafficking. In June 2023, data from Morocco’s Ministry of Interior unveiled the country’s ongoing efforts to curb irregular migration attempts towards Europe thwarted a staggering 366,000 irregular migration attempts over the previous five years.

The data shows that in 2022 alone, the country aborted 70,781 attempts at irregular immigration.

The operations haven’t solely focused on interception; they’ve also prioritized humanitarian aid.

Morocco has managed to rescue more than 90,000 irregular migrants over the same period, especially on the maritime front. Morocco’s Royal Navy extracted over 12,000 migrants from dangerous conditions in 2022.

The country’s approach to curbing irregular migration equally extends to dismantling criminal networks involved in irregular migration.

Moroccan police dismantled 290 networks in 2022; it also foiled 117 other networks by the end of May 2023, bringing the total number of dismantled networks to 1,500 over the past five years.