A Spanish National Police report submitted to a judge alleges Moroccan security personnel helped direct tens of thousands of migrants toward Ceuta in a coordinated operation, contradicting explanations advanced by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government and intensifying a political dispute over Spain’s North African border.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A Spanish National Police investigation has placed Moroccan government personnel at the center of an extraordinary mass migration surge into Ceuta, alleging that uniformed and plainclothes agents helped direct migrants toward Spanish territory in what investigators describe as a coordinated challenge to Spain’s sovereignty.
The findings were submitted to Judge María Tardón, who is investigating how an estimated 80,000 migrants from Morocco crossed into the Spanish autonomous city between July 30 and 31.
The emergency has continued well beyond those two days. More than 9,000 migrants were subsequently reported to remain in Ceuta, a city with a population of approximately 83,000.
The police findings could significantly reshape Spain’s political debate over responsibility for the crisis because they differ sharply from explanations offered by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and his government.
According to reporting on the police dossier, investigators allege that the Moroccan government orchestrated the movement of migrants toward Ceuta as part of an effort to undermine Spanish sovereignty over the territory.
Evidence cited by the National Police reportedly includes information from Spain’s National Centre for Immigration and Borders, or CENIF.
Investigators said uniformed Moroccan gendarmes were present in Castillejos, the Moroccan town immediately across the border from Ceuta, on the day of the mass crossings.
Rather than attempting to stop the movement, the report alleges, those officers were directing migrants toward the frontier separating Morocco from Spanish territory.
Police say they also possess what the report describes as “graphic evidence” showing another layer of coordination.
According to investigators, plainclothes Moroccan government personnel can allegedly be seen instructing uniformed gendarmes where to send migrants.
The directions reportedly focused specifically on moving people toward the sea around the border fence.
That route carried unusual legal significance because of a Spanish Supreme Court ruling issued only weeks earlier.
The court had determined that migrants reaching Spanish territory by water could not simply be pushed back across the border.
Because Ceuta sits directly on the Mediterranean coast, migrants could enter the water from Morocco, move a short distance around the land barrier and arrive on the Spanish side by sea.
The National Police report contends that Moroccan authorities deliberately exploited that circumstance.
Investigators further allege that the operation was connected to Morocco’s longstanding claims involving Ceuta and Melilla, Spain’s two autonomous cities located on the North African coast and bordered by Morocco.
Rabat has historically disputed Spanish sovereignty over the territories.
The police assessment therefore treats the episode not merely as an uncontrolled migration event but as an alleged state-directed action carrying geopolitical implications.
That conclusion has generated a major controversy in Madrid because Sánchez’s government has publicly advanced other explanations for the surge.
The socialist prime minister, who has pursued closer relations with Morocco during his time in office, has accused outside actors of manipulating social media to encourage migrants to travel toward Ceuta.
Among the entities Sánchez has blamed are Russia and Israel.
He has alleged that foreign-backed disinformation helped provoke the crisis and has also attributed responsibility to what he described as shadowy “ultra-right international” forces.
Those claims are now facing challenges from both Spain’s own police investigation and European Union officials.
The European External Action Service, the EU’s diplomatic service, said Tuesday that it had not found conclusive evidence showing that foreign-state disinformation caused the Ceuta migration surge.
“In the case of Ceuta, we saw attempts by Russia to exploit the online crisis. However, we have no conclusive evidence to suggest that the crisis itself was caused by disinformation from foreign state actors,” a European Union Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
The distinction is significant.
According to the EEAS statement, Russian actors may have attempted to take advantage of the unfolding situation online, but European officials have not established that Russia, Israel or another foreign government created the underlying migration crisis through disinformation.
The National Police report instead directs scrutiny toward actions allegedly taken on the ground by Moroccan personnel during the crossings.
The political consequences could be substantial for Sánchez, who is already facing a difficult reelection campaign.
His government’s relationship with Rabat has become an increasingly sensitive issue as opposition parties demand answers about whether Madrid failed to identify — or publicly acknowledge — Moroccan involvement in the crisis.
Conservative opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo seized on the police findings to accuse Sánchez of failing in one of the government’s most fundamental responsibilities.
Feijóo said the report demonstrated that Sánchez “is not in a position to protect and guarantee the security of the nation” because “he does not defend national integrity.”
“We are talking about the most important obligation of any leader. The only way out is to call elections and give the voice back to the people,” Feijóo said.
He further accused the government of misleading the Spanish public over Morocco’s role.
“The Government has lied to us and was protecting Morocco more than the Spanish,” Feijóo said.
The allegations arrive amid the enormous logistical challenge created by the crossings themselves.
If the estimate of approximately 80,000 arrivals during July 30 and 31 is confirmed, the number would approach the entire resident population of Ceuta within a period of only two days.
The continued presence of more than 9,000 migrants would itself represent more than one-tenth of the city’s normal population.
Beyond the immediate migration pressures, the investigation now raises questions about whether a neighboring government deliberately used migrant flows to exert political pressure on Spain.
The police findings remain allegations contained in an investigative report and are being examined as part of Judge Tardón’s inquiry.
They nevertheless provide a sharply different account of the events from the explanations publicly promoted by Sánchez’s government.
At the center of the investigation is now a question extending beyond border enforcement: whether Moroccan state personnel deliberately directed migrants toward a legal and geographic opening in Spain’s frontier as part of a broader effort connected to Rabat’s claims over Ceuta and Melilla.
With Spanish police pointing toward Morocco, the European Union saying it lacks evidence that foreign disinformation caused the crisis, and opposition leaders demanding elections, the findings have transformed the Ceuta migration emergency into an escalating dispute over national sovereignty, government accountability and Spain’s relationship with its southern neighbor.
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