Spain’s spy agency warned of mass crossings into Ceuta before border crisis
Declassified documents show Madrid and Morocco were warned of plans by migrants to breach the Ceuta border.
Spain’s intelligence services had warned of possible mass crossings by migrants and asylum seekers into Ceuta just before tens of thousands of people arrived in the Spanish enclave in late July, according to declassified documents.
The trove of 40 documents was released on Wednesday amid near-daily protests in Ceuta over the Spanish government’s handling of the crisis, as well as questions over neighbouring Morocco’s role in the events.
The documents show that on July 29 – a day before more than 72,000 people began pouring into Ceuta from Morocco – Spain’s National Intelligence Center (CNI) sent an alert via WhatsApp to the Spanish government’s delegation in the city about calls on social media “for an assault on the fence and by sea tomorrow at 8 pm”.
Sanchez had previously said there was no evidence of Morocco’s involvement in the crisis, despite a leaked police report in July that alleged “total permissiveness” from Moroccan police during the border rush.