A Spanish police report consulted on Wednesday by AFP mentions in particular a "significantly smaller deployment than usual" and points to the "permissiveness" of Moroccan police officers during the influx of migrants in Ceuta at the end of July, which questions the role played by Morocco.

Published on: 02/09/2026 - 9:32 p.m. Modified on: 02/09/2026 - 9:39 p.m.

A Spanish police report mentioning in particular a "significantly smaller deployment than usual" and the "permissiveness" of Moroccan police sows doubt about Morocco's role in the influx of migrants into Ceuta at the end of July.

This report, consulted on Wednesday September 2 by AFP, could embarrass the Spanish executive, which exonerated Morocco from any responsibility in the sudden and massive influx of several tens of thousands of migrants into the small Spanish territory of North Africa on July 30 and 31. A position criticized by many members of the opposition.

Throughout the day, after the revelation of elements of this report by the online media El Espanol, the Ministry of the Interior several times communicated responses from senior police officials. They assured that "no report had been issued attributing responsibility for the assault to any government, service or person, given that to date, the intellectual author of the said assault remains unknown."

A “total permissiveness” of Morocco, according to the report

"It is certain that the declarations of a significant number of migrants who entered Ceuta on July 30 agree to affirm that the police deployment around the border between Morocco and Ceuta (...) was significantly reduced than usual", write in this report investigators from the National Center for Immigration and Borders (CENIF).

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“On July 30 and 31, the police response in Morocco to the mobilization and massive entry of migrants into Ceuta was, at a minimum, totally permissive, without any serious attempt being recorded to try to reduce, disperse or remove the mass of people from the border perimeter on July 30,” they continue.

"The geographically close concentration of public security resources due to the celebration of the Throne Day [which each year marks the anniversary of the start of the reign of King Mohammed VI, Editor's note] should have facilitated much firmer control, at least on July 31; on the contrary, we observe a progressive reaction slower than what a situation of this type required," the police further write.

“Facilitative behavior”

“In addition, the statements of the migrants interviewed and the video sequences themselves, broadcast in the media and on social networks, show, depending on the case, attitudes compatible with behavior facilitating irregular immigration, up to scenes which suggest surveillance and control of the entry/exit process,” the investigators further point out.

“In the interviews carried out, the migrants say almost unanimously that the police forces not only remained passive in the face of entry attempts, but also told them to go by sea in the area of ​​the El Tarajal pier and not by other access points,” they continue.

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These elements seem at least to complicate the official position of the Spanish executive of Pedro Sanchez, who again exonerated Morocco from any responsibility on Monday by ensuring that "no intelligence service with which the Spanish government usually collaborates showed (...) any doubt whatsoever as to the participation, in one way or another, of the Moroccan authorities".

Denials on the existence of the report

On Wednesday morning, the Spanish Minister of the Interior Fernando Grande-Marlaska asked the Director General of Police to inform him of the content of this report mentioned by El Espanol and in which the CENIF "would attribute to the forces and security bodies of Morocco the massive assault against the Ceuta border on July 30 and 31", according to his ministry.

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And in the afternoon, the director of the Spanish police had denied for the first time the existence of a report implicating Moroccan law enforcement in the massive entry of migrants into Ceuta, denials repeated in the evening in communications from the Ministry of the Interior.

For some analysts, the crisis could have been a message sent to Spain by the Moroccan kingdom on the question of Western Sahara – a former Spanish colony, controlled mainly by Morocco but claimed by the separatists of the Polisario Front, supported by Algeria – after a visit by Pedro Sanchez to Algeria in July.

With AFP

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