Morocco’s Security forces claim to have thwarted this Saturday an attempt to irregularly cross into the Spanish city of Ceuta by hundreds of migrants, mostly sub-Saharan Africans, who had hidden on the outskirts of the border town of Fnideq (Castillejos in Spanish).
Moroccan Security sources told EFE that the incident occurred in a mountainous area, on the outskirts of Castillejos and southwest of Ceuta.
According to the same sources, Moroccan agents dispersed the migrants, who remain in the area.
Meanwhile, the urban center of Fnideq (Castillejos) woke up calm with the presence of a significant police deployment.
Controls remain on the main roads leading to Castillejos, especially those coming from Tetouan and Tangier.
During the early morning, surveillance tasks intensified near the border with Ceuta, both on land and at sea, with the intervention of fast boats from the Moroccan Royal Navy and drones.
A 17-year-old young migrant, one of the very few who managed to enter the city, told EFE that she managed to reach Castillejos from Tetouan during the night. According to her account, she traveled on a bus that was stopped at three checkpoints along the approximately 35 kilometers separating the two towns.
Thousands of personnel are participating in the security deployment organized by Rabat to prevent the massive crossing into Ceuta that had been called for this Saturday through social networks following the tragedy of the past 30th and 31st, when tens of thousands of people crossed on foot and by swimming into the Spanish enclave with at least 141 dead, according to humanitarian organizations.
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