Morocco foils illegal migration attempt in El Jadida, arrests two smugglers

Morocco’s police foiled on Monday an illegal migration operation in the Atlantic coastal city of El Jadida and arrested two smugglers of people aged respectively 38 and 39.

The two smugglers were housing 35 illegal migrants, including a 15-year-old minor, in a local popular district as they were preparing their illegal migration operation from the coast of Jorf Lasfar, said a press release issued by the national police.

Search carried out by the security agents in their premises led to the seizure of 12 containers comprising 600 liters of fuel, five mobile phones and two wireless communication devices, in addition to four life jackets, a diving suit, a lifebuoy and a motorcycle with foreign-registered license plates.

Last year, Morocco foiled 74,000 illegal migration attempts. In 2018, Moroccan coast guards and security services prevented 89,000 people from illegally crossing to Spain.

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