Rabat – Police in the city of Guelmim, in southern Morocco, arrested on Friday five individuals aged between 17 and 37 for their alleged involvement in irregular migration and human trafficking.
Security services arrested the first suspect, an assistant driver of a public transport bus, at the northern entrance of the city.
The bus was coming from a city in the north of Morocco, a statement from the General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) said.
A search of the bus enabled police to seize an inflatable boat and several poles and wooden planks.
DGSN said the materials were “intended for a criminal network active in the organization of illegal migration.”
Investigations and research in cooperation with Royal Gendarmerie enabled security services to arrest four other suspects, including a minor.
Police apprehended them on board a vehicle in the Oued Siad area, approximately five kilometers from Tan-Tan. Security services arrested them as they awaited the inflatable boat and the other materials seized in the bus.
DGSN said that all suspects are subject to judicial investigation to determine the ramifications of the case and to arrest all potential suspects involved.
Morocco’s police have recently carried out a series of similar operations, arresting dozens of suspects involved in irregular migration networks.
One of the operations took place last week, when police arrested four suspects for their alleged involvement in a human trafficking.
The arrests are part of Morocco’s approach against undocumented migraton and human trafficking.
Morocco aborted 74,000 irregular migration attempts last year.
DGSN also apprehended 27,317 would-be migrants in 2019. Moroccans represented 26% of those arrested trying to migrate without documents.
