RABAT, September 7. /TASS/. Around 1,500 people trying to illegally make it into Ceuta, a Spanish autonomous city on the African coast of the Mediterranean, have been ousted from the country’s northern areas by law enforcement over the past few days, Hespress reported.
"As a result of special operations to combat illegal migration, about 1,500 people have been expelled from the northern part of the country over the past nine days," sources told the news website. Young Moroccans, minors too, account for the overwhelming number of those expelled.
An estimated 150 to 200 people attempting to cross into the autonomous city has been detained daily, Moroccan law enforcement agencies said. The figure, Hespress wrote, shows that the influx of illegal migrants into the region adjacent to Ceuta has not subsided, even amid enhanced security measures, gendarmerie patrols, constant surveillance, and numerous additional checkpoints at approaches to the enclave.
In late July-early August, tens of thousands of illegal migrants reached Ceuta by swimming, as well as on foot, bypassing the breakwater that separates the city from Morocco. According to the Moroccan Ministry of Interior, approximately 40,000 have attempted to illegally cross the border toward Ceuta, while the Spanish government has said around 72,000 migrants have crossed into Ceuta, of whom about 70,000 have already returned to Morocco.