Moroccan authorities reported on Friday that they foiled a mass attempt by over 400 Sub-Saharan migrants to storm Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta.
Nine migrants sustained minor injuries and were rushed to Fnideq’s hospital, said the local authorities of M’diq-Fnideq. They added that over 90 others were arrested and handed to security services, while the search continues to arrest the rest.
Meanwhile, Spanish authorities said that a group of 155 migrants forced their way into Ceuta from Morocco on Friday.
“They are all from sub-Saharan Africa, the majority from Guinea,” a spokesman for the central government’s office in Ceuta told AFP.
They broke through the barbed wire fence bordering Morocco early Friday morning, taking advantage of misty conditions, slightly hurting 12 police officers who tried to stop them, he noted. Several migrants were treated for cuts.
Further, 16 migrants were treated due to other injuries.
In the same context, a military source said that the royal guards have offered help in the sea to 156 irregular migrants, including 15 women and three children. They were facing difficulties onboard several inflatable boats.
Some of the migrants were in poor health. The royal guards provided the necessary medical care to the migrants, who were then brought safely to different Moroccan northern ports.
Meanwhile, Morocco has broken up 100 human trafficking networks and stopped 57,000 crossings this year, according to Government spokesperson Mustapha Khalfi.
The country officially rejected to establish shelter centers for migrants, as Europe is demanding. It considers that this suggestion would complicate the situation.
Rabat is demanding financial aid from the EU to face the illegal migration, knowing that in 2018 the total number of migrants wishing to reach Europe doubled compared to 2017.