Morocco arrests over 750 candidates to illegal migration in nine days

The Moroccan authorities have arrested, between January 5 and 13, 755 candidates to illegal emigration in various Moroccan regions, a source at the interior ministry revealed.

The group includes 658 nationals from sub-saharan countries, 91 Moroccans, four Algerian and two Asian nationals.

Morocco is used by candidates to illegal migration as a transit to reach Europe, through the Gibraltar strait, or the Spanish Canary Islands through southern Moroccan Atlantic shores.

In 2004, Morocco has foiled over 26,000 attempts of illegal migration and dismantled 423 human trafficking networks, said the Moroccan Directorate of Migration and Borders Surveillance directorate, set up to crack down on people smuggling networks.

As a result, says the source, attempts to clandestinely reach the Iberian Peninsula dropped by 26% while those to infiltrate the Canary Islands regressed by 44%, compared to 2003.