Rabat says it aborted the illegal departure of 10,300 migrants in the first four months of this year

Marruecos intercepta 107 migrantes subsaharianos y asiáticos en el Mediterráneo

photo_camera Patera con migrantes en las aguas del Mediterráneo

Moroccan Royal Navy troops intercepted 107 migrants, including sub-Saharan and Asian migrants, on several boats in Mediterranean waters on Sunday night. A military source told the official Moroccan agency MAP on Tuesday that the migrants, including 13 women and four minors, were taken to the ports of Nador (northeast) and Tangier (north) after receiving the necessary medical care on board the navy units. The note does not specify how many boats were intercepted or where the operations took place. 

Last Thursday the Royal Navy intercepted 93 sub-Saharan migrants, including 15 women and several children, in the Alboran Sea, who were on board several boats. 

The departures from boats, which were halted during the first weeks of the coronavirus confinement in Morocco (late March and April), have increased again in recent days, coinciding with the relaxation of restrictions on mobility. 

Morocco claims that in the first four months of this year it aborted the illegal departure of 10,300 migrants; in Spain, statistics from the Ministry of the Interior have recorded between 1 January and 15 June the irregular entry of 6,466 migrants by sea, of whom 2,642 did so by the so-called "Canary Island route".

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