Spain's interior minister has requested a police investigation into a report that a government agency attributed July's mass migrant influx into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta to Moroccan security forces, according to ministry sources on Wednesday.
The move comes after Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez publicly rejected any Moroccan responsibility, instead accusing Israel, Russia, and far-right groups of spreading disinformation about the incident, in which around 70,000 people entered the territory over two days.
Speaking on Cadena SER radio, Sánchez said that "no intelligence service with which the Spanish government normally cooperates" had suggested "any involvement in one way or another of the Moroccan authorities."
However, the online newspaper El Español reported that Spain's National Centre for Immigration and Borders (CENIF) had told a judge that the influx "was guided by Moroccan security forces...with an objective other than migration."
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska has written to police chief Francisco Pardo to verify the information, which CENIF reportedly sent to a judge collecting evidence on the incident, ministry sources said.
In his letter, Grande-Marlaska stressed that "any such information should have immediately been made available to the National Security Council...and to other bodies with powers in this field."
Political fallout and EU tensions
The mass entry on 30-31 July, when people swam or walked across the border from Morocco, left dozens dead and triggered a political crisis. Some analysts suggest Morocco may have been sending a message over the disputed Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony largely controlled by Morocco but claimed by the Algerian-backed Polisario Front, after Sánchez visited Rabat's historic enemy Algeria in July.
The influx also reignited tensions within the European Union over immigration and strained the Schengen free-travel zone. Italy's right-wing government imposed border checks on travellers from Spain for a month, with Madrid reciprocating a week later. Both governments extended the controls for another 15 days on Monday.
Although most of the migrants were returned to Morocco within hours, thousands remain in the tiny territory of 18 square kilometres and 84,000 inhabitants, many living rough on the streets. Their fate has become a major political flashpoint, with conservative and far-right opposition parties demanding that all those who entered, including minors, be sent back to Morocco.
Residents of Ceuta have held regular demonstrations over what they describe as security and hygiene problems linked to the influx. Sánchez has pledged 6,000 reception centre places and an additional €168 million in aid for the territory, while Madrid has asked the European Commission for support with screening and processing migrants staying irregularly in Ceuta.
The interior minister's probe adds a new layer to a story that has already tested Spain's relations with Morocco and exposed divisions within the EU over migration policy. The outcome of the police check could either vindicate Sánchez's stance or force a reassessment of the government's position.
