Rabat – Police in the cities of Tangier and Tetouan, northern Morocco arrested this week 60 individuals, including minors, for their alleged involvement in fabricating and spreading false news on social media to encourage irregular migration.
National security cyber vigilance units detected digital content on social media platforms that directly incites breaching the security barrier between the Moroccan city of Fnideq and the Spanish enclave, Ceuta, on September 15, an authorized official source said.
The platforms also encourage users of social media sites and applications to engage in collective irregular migration, the same source told the Moroccan news agency MAP.
Technical investigations and field inquiries enabled police to identify and arrest 13 individuals involved in publishing and sharing digital content based on data provided by the General Directorate of Territorial Surveillance (DGST).
Police also arrested 47 other suspects in Tangier upon their arrival in the city via the train station and bus terminal.
All of the individuals are subject to judicial investigation to uncover the true motives behind the act.
Investigations are also ongoing to identify all people involved in fabricating and disseminating the content and false news that encourage irregular migration.
A campaign has rapidly spread on social media, calling for a mass gathering to illegally cross into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on September 15.
The messages, mainly circulating on TikTok and Instagram, urge Moroccan youth to gather in the border town of Fnideq and attempt to cross Ceuta via the El Tarajal border.
Morocco has been intensifying efforts to tackle irregular migration for years.
Spanish news agency EFE said Moroccan security services prevented a total of 14,648 migrants from entering the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla during August.
Last year, Moroccan police arrested around 28,863 irregular migrants, including 18,820 individuals of different foreign nationalities.
About 121 criminal networks were dismantled, and 594 organizers and mediators of migration were arrested.
Police also confiscated 707 forged identity documents related to irregular migration cases in addition to 215 boats and 31 vessels used to attempt the illegal border crossing.
