Spain denies report blamed Morocco for Ceuta crisis

MADRID: Spain's interior ministry denied the existence of a police report that allegedly concluded Morocco orchestrated July's migrant rush into Ceuta, as the government maintains delicate relations with Rabat. More than 70,000 migrants crossed into the Spanish North African territory from Morocco on July 30 and 31 in an unprecedented and deadly surge that unleashed a crisis for the government. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez ruled out Moroccan responsibility, which has since taken back most of the migrants.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska wrote to police chief Francisco Pardo to check the claim, which CENIF reportedly sent to a judge investigating the incident, a source from his ministry said. 'Any such information should have immediately been made available to the National Security Council... and to other bodies with powers in this field,' the minister said in his letter, according to the source.
Pardo told Marlaska that 'there exists no police report whatsoever that attributes to the Moroccan security forces the planning or execution of what happened' in Ceuta, it said. Ceuta and Spain's other North African enclave, Melilla, have the European Union's only land borders with Africa. — AFP