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Rabat – Spanish police in Granada have arrested two Moroccan nationals for allegedly abandoning a 17-year-old minor and facilitating irregular migration.
One of the alleged suspects is the minor’s uncle, Viva Sevilla reported on Tuesday, noting that he brought the minor from Morocco by sea.
“The two individuals, the uncle and a family friend, are believed to have faked the child’s abandonment by pretending to have found him on a street in Granada and attempting to hand him over at a police station,” the source said, quoting a statement from the national police.
The news report said the boy stayed briefly with his uncle, but he was later handed over to a family friend, who is also of Moroccan origin.
He allegedly brought him to Granada under instructions to pretend he had found the boy strolling the streets.
Authorities said his uncle planned to present the boy as an unaccompanied minor who needed protection, which would help him receive a residence permit.
An investigation is ongoing to shed further on the case, with police confirming that the boy’s parents live in Morocco and “had consented to the plan.”
His uncle also admitted that he brought the boy to help him be admitted to a welfare system for shelter.
The two men were released and are awaiting trial.
Morocco has been serving both as a key transit and a destination county for migrants from sub-Saharan Africa.
Growing numbers of Moroccans also seek to emigrate in search of better opportunities.
In January this year, Morocco’s Ministry of Interior said that the country’s security services prevented 78,685 irregular migration attempts in 2024.
Most of the intercepted migrants came from West Africa, accounting up 58% of the total figures. Migrants from the Maghreb represented 12%, while 9% came from East and Central African countries.
Moroccan security services also dismantled 332 human trafficking networks over the past year, the ministry said, noting that these groups adapt their methods and strengthen their criminal operations through collaboration to serve their irregular migration agenda.
