Europol Seizes Weapons Bound for Occupied Ceuta, Melilla

The European Police Office (Europol) foiled in Rotterdam port an attempt at trafficking a considerable cargo of arms to terrorists in the Spanish-occupied cities of Ceuta and Melilla in northern Morocco, Moroccan newspaper al Ahdat reported.

The seized weapons comprised pistols and machine guns and were intended to be smuggled through Sardinia to North Africa, the paper said.

The weapons were ordered by terrorists in northern Morocco with a view to perpetrating attacks undermining public order, said the paper, recalling that Morocco’s anti-terrorist agency, the Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations (BCIJ), had dismantled a terrorist cell planning to use fire arms to assassinate political figures.

Morocco has been cooperating closely with EU member states on security issues leading to joint operations especially with Spain and France against terrorist cells.

Last September, Former Interior Minister said that he discussed with European Commissioner for Migration and Home Affairs, Dimitris Avramopoulos, the possibility of sealing a comprehensive agreement on security cooperation between relevant Moroccan authorities and the Europol.

In the annual study dubbed: “Terrorism in North Africa and the Sahel in 2016”, issued by the Inter-University Centre on Terrorism Studies (IUCTS) and the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, Morocco has been described as the country “least affected” by terrorism in North Africa and the Sahel with zero attacks reported in 2016.