Pedro Sánchez accused Israel; Spanish intelligence points to Morocco for the influx of migrants
The Spanish authorities believe that it was not a spontaneous movement, but a planned and organized operation aimed at overwhelming the Spanish border posts.
An intelligence report from the Spanish police states that officers and members of the Moroccan security forces actively accompanied and guided the massive arrival of some 72,000 migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta at the end of July. These findings contradict statements made two days earlier by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who had dismissed any involvement by the Moroccan authorities and had instead blamed Israel and Russia in particular.
The report from the Spanish police’s National Unit for Combating Immigration (CENIF), submitted to the courts on Monday, is based in particular on footage collected during the events. According to this evidence, uniformed members of the Moroccan forces allegedly gave migrants specific instructions on how to cross the border, while plainclothes agents reportedly supervised the entire operation.
The Spanish services believe that it was not a spontaneous movement, but a planned and organized operation aimed at overwhelming the Spanish border crossings, against a backdrop of political tensions and Moroccan territorial claims. The report also reveals that the intelligence services had sent two warnings to the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, two days before the massive influx, indicating a particularly high risk of incursions by land and by sea.
These revelations also put the Spanish Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, in a difficult position, as he had repeatedly denied the existence of such alert reports. The Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, however, confirmed that military intelligence and the CNI had detected calls to cross the border and transmitted this information to the security services before the start of the crisis.
Following the publication of these elements, the Spanish police forwarded the file to the judiciary in order to support a new criminal investigation into the events. At the same time, the Minister of the Interior requested explanations from the head of the national police, while the opposition is demanding answers regarding the discrepancy between the available intelligence and the position publicly maintained by the government.