The controversy surrounding two secret drug-trafficking tunnels running from Morocco to Ceuta is intensifying, as Spanish investigations highlight a persistent refusal by Moroccan authorities to cooperate with judicial requests despite new revelations that one of the tunnels is located adjacent to a Moroccan military base, placing the Makhzen regime in a genuine predicament.
In an article titled “Morocco Obstructs Investigation into Two Drug Trafficking Tunnels,” published by El Pa?s, details emerged regarding the Spanish police’s recent closure of a tunnel discovered by the Drugs and Organized Crime Unit (Udyco) in early April. The passage had been used for years as a clandestine route to funnel drugs from Morocco into Ceuta and onward to the European market.
According to the report, the Spanish side of the site, located within the Tarajal industrial zone, has been sealed. However, the investigation remains stalled as Spanish officials await technical data from the Moroccan side, where the tunnel reaches a depth of approximately 19 metres. A similar stalemate persists regarding the first tunnel discovered a year ago.
Judicial sources indicate that both investigations share a common obstacle: Rabat’s silence. The neighbouring country has not responded to the letters rogatory issued by Spain seeking to fully clarify how these tunnels operate.
In the case of the first tunnel, Judge Mar?a Tard?n, overseeing the investigation, submitted multiple requests for judicial assistance to Rabat without receiving any response.
Following the discovery of the second tunnel, the newspaper adds, the same sources expect the absence of cooperation to continue, leaving essential parts of the network unexplained and preventing the full mapping of the tunnels’ extensions or the identification of those responsible for their construction and operation, further entrenching suspicions of structural complicity between the Makhzen regime and transnational smuggling networks.
The case has taken on added sensitivity, according to El Pa?s, following confirmation that one of the tunnels terminates in the vicinity of a military base in an area theoretically subject to stringent Moroccan security surveillance, raising questions within Spanish security circles about the nature of the gaps that allowed a smuggling infrastructure of this level of sophistication to exist within a secured zone.
The same sources contend that this deadlock does not merely obstruct the judicial process, but actively prolongs the lifespan of smuggling networks that exploit the information vacuum to reorganize their operations whenever part of their infrastructure is uncovered, at a time when border cooperation is supposed to be a decisive factor in combating organized crime, as the Makhzen publicly promotes through hollow rhetoric that bears no relation to field reality and stands in direct contradiction to the continued flow of these networks across the border.
These operations resulted in the arrest of 27 individuals and the seizure of large quantities of narcotics within an organized smuggling network, reigniting accusations in some European circles that routes originating from Morocco are contributing to the flow of these substances into Europe and feeding its market, amid persistent gaps that continue to allow these networks to expand across the border.
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