Spain’s National Intelligence Center (CNI) repeatedly warned the Interior Ministry that a large-scale migrant crossing into Ceuta from Morocco was becoming increasingly likely in the weeks before more than 50,000 people rushed toward the Spanish enclave, according to a report by Spanish broadcaster Cadena SER.
Citing state security sources, Cadena SER reported that the intelligence agency issued several warnings before the July 30 crossing but that the Interior Ministry failed to take sufficient preventive measures.
According to the report, intelligence officials linked the growing risk to a July 8 ruling by Spain’s Supreme Court, which held that migrants who swim into Ceuta or Melilla cannot be immediately returned under Spain’s “hot return” procedure.
Security sources told the broadcaster that human trafficking networks quickly exploited the ruling by spreading claims that reaching the Spanish enclaves had become easier, creating what they described as a “pull factor.”
Although the CNI did not predict the exact date of the crossings, it repeatedly warned that the risk of a large-scale attempt was real, the report said.
Security sources quoted by Cadena SER argued that the Interior Ministry failed to act on those warnings because security resources at the Ceuta border were insufficient.
“These people would not have entered Spain if the Ministry of the Interior had taken measures to prevent it,” the sources told the broadcaster, accusing the ministry of attempting to shift responsibility to the intelligence service after the crisis.
The Interior Ministry has rejected that account, insisting it never received any intelligence report predicting an event on the scale of the July 30 crossings.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska has publicly stated that there was “no report” from the CNI indicating that such a mass crossing was imminent.
At the same time, the ministry acknowledged it had been monitoring a steady increase in migrants reaching Ceuta by swimming since mid-July.
It said security at the border had been reinforced in response but did not specify what additional measures were implemented or explain why they failed to prevent thousands of people from gathering on the Moroccan side before the crossings.
Cadena SER also reported that internal government communications show the Interior Ministry had already expressed concern over mounting pressure on Ceuta’s migrant reception system.
Eight days before the mass crossing, the ministry reportedly warned Spain’s Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration that the Temporary Immigrant Reception Center (CETI) could reach a “critical” level of overcrowding as arrivals by sea continued.
After the facility exceeded its capacity, Spain’s Interior and Defense ministries coordinated with the Migration Ministry to transfer 340 beds from the temporary reception center at Las Raíces, on the island of Tenerife, to Ceuta, according to the report.
add your comment
Terms of publication : Not to offend the writer, people, sacred things, or attack religions or the divine self, and refrain from racist incitement and insults.