Spain's National Police concluded, through a report prepared by an intelligence unit, that agents of the Moroccan security forces, known as "gendarmes," guided the mass entry of people into Ceuta at the end of July. The document was sent on Monday to the judge investigating the case and was initially reported by the newspaper El Español. According to the report, the invasion was guided by Moroccan police under orders from plainclothes agents with an objective different from the migratory one, with images recorded on the Moroccan side of the border being invoked.
Spain's Ministry of the Interior, led by Fernando Grande-Marlaska, asked the National Police leadership for explanations about the report, that he had not been informed of this information in advance. The minister recalled that a "situation of national security interest" had been declared because of Ceuta and that the information should have been made "immediately available" to all members of the National Security Council, which includes the prime minister and the Interior Ministry itself.
The Spanish Government had repeatedly assured there was no evidence of involvement by the Moroccan authorities in the entry of more than 70,000 people in 24 hours illegally into Ceuta. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez had said on Monday that there was "no information" that would hold Morocco responsible or point to Morocco's participation in any way.
The police report also stressed that the majority of people who entered Ceuta did not fit the profile of a migrant wanting to reach European territory, with more than 90% leaving the city almost immediately and returning to Morocco. However, a second call for entry into Ceuta on August 15, which circulated on social media, was fully controlled by Morocco, unlike what happened in July.
