Africa-Press. The situation in occupied Ceuta has taken a troubling and dramatic turn following the Spanish police’s submission of a report to the judiciary, suggesting that Moroccan security forces organized the mass breach. This narrative contradicts the account of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, while the Ministry of the Interior protests its lack of access to the report.
In this context, a local source has obtained the contents of the report submitted by an intelligence unit responsible for monitoring the borders to National Court Judge María Tardón. It noted that what was deemed the mass breach on July 30, when between 72,000 and 80,000 migrants, mostly Moroccans, entered Ceuta, was coordinated by several members of Moroccan security forces and was not an incidental event related to the misinterpretation of the Supreme Court ruling regarding the maritime borders of the city, which stated that any migrant who arrived by swimming to Spanish waters could not be immediately expelled.
The events are somewhat linked to the possibility that Morocco aimed to evoke Spain’s colonial history over the cities of Ceuta and Melilla. The report recalls the mass breach of Ceuta in mid-May 2021, which was associated with Spain’s refusal at that time to accept former President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara.
The National Court, responsible for major cases in Spain, ordered an investigation immediately after Prime Minister Sánchez’s statement on July 31, declaring that “what Ceuta experienced was an assault on the unity of the country.” This court is authorized to conduct the investigation. At that time, Judge María Tardón requested the police to carry out an investigation and provide her with the report, which was revealed by a local source and various Spanish newspapers.
The report represents a significant political earthquake that could lead to unexpected outcomes, as the government has not been briefed on it. Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska publicly requested the police chief in a media letter today to provide him with the report’s contents, justifying that he is one of the officials responsible for the country’s security and that the government must be informed. At the same time, he emphasized that reviewing the report, which accuses Morocco, would allow for appropriate security and diplomatic measures to be taken.
The report comes at a time when the government is emphasizing Morocco’s exoneration from any involvement in the mass breach, and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez accused, in an interview with Cadena SER on Monday, social media networks linked to Russia and Israel of being involved in the border crossing operation.
The report calls into question Madrid’s official narrative, coming just one day after Spanish intelligence leaked reports to El País and ABC casting doubts on the role of certain Moroccan authorities without implicating the entire state, and calling for a reevaluation of relations with Morocco, preparing for what it described as a “hybrid war” against Ceuta and Melilla by Morocco.
