Onda Cero radio: Morocco and Spain start joint sea patrols in january, minister

Spanish interior minister, Angel Acebes, said Thursday Moroccan police and Spanish civil guards will start carrying out joint patrols as of mid-January 2004 to thwart illegal immigration attempts.

The Spanish official told private radio station Onda Cero following the 1st meeting held on Wednesday by the Moroccan-Spanish permanent committee in charge of migration flow, created last month, "Morocco will deploy, starting January, the first members of the security force within the new bodies it has created to fight illegal migration," in reference to the directorate of Migration and Borders Surveillance and the Migration Observatory to fight illegal immigration and human trafficking networks, created last month.

Consequently, Acebes affirmed, Moroccan-Spanish collaboration will be concrete as of mid-January.

The Spanish official had praised Wednesday the Moroccan move, saying "Morocco and Spain will endeavor to act jointly through close collaboration between their security forces to prevent the tragedies of illegal immigration."

Spanish government's delegate of foreigners' affairs and immigration, Gonzalo Robles, was quoted in newspapers as voicing optimism over the future of bilateral cooperation.