Morocco Thwarts another Illegal Migration Operation

Moroccan authorities thwarted on Thursday an illegal migration attempt in the Saharan city of Tan-tan where they captured 13 persons (including 10 from Sub-Sahara and three from Morocco) who were preparing their risky high-sea crossing toward Europe.

The combing operation carried out by the local security forces led to the discovery and seizure of two inflatable dinghies, two engines and life jackets. These equipments are used by smugglers in human trafficking.

A police investigation is underway to identify and arrest all those involved in this disrupted operation.

In 2019, Morocco foiled 27,000 migration attempts, intercepted 20,141 illegal migrants, seized 3021 travel documents, nabbed 505 smugglers and dismantled 62 networks operating in human trafficking.

Besides being a transit country, Morocco is also a destination country and was the first in Africa to launch a migrant regularization campaign offering legal residency status to some 56,000 migrants mostly from Sub-Saharan Africa.