Spanish police report details Moroccan border permissiveness during July Ceuta influx

Leaked investigative findings on border policing

A Spanish police report drafted by the National Center for Immigration and Borders (CENIF) points to reduced Moroccan police deployment and operational permissiveness during a mass border crossing into Ceuta on July 30 and July 31. The document, commissioned by the judiciary and reviewed on September 2 by AFP following reporting by the online news outlet El Español, analyzes the influx of tens of thousands of migrants into the Spanish enclave in North Africa. Investigators compiled witness statements from individuals who crossed the perimeter, noting consistent accounts regarding the absence of standard Moroccan security cordons on July 30.

The CENIF report describes the specific conduct observed along the perimeter during the two-day period:

On July 30 and 31, the police response in Morocco to the mobilization and massive entry of migrants into Ceuta was, at a minimum, of total permissiveness, without any serious attempt recorded to reduce, disperse or remove the mass of people from the border perimeter on July 30.

Security presence and Throne Day celebrations

According to the document, the reduced border deployment coincided with Morocco's Throne Day, an annual national holiday marking the accession of King Mohammed VI. Investigators stated that public security forces were already concentrated in nearby northern regions for the official ceremonies. The CENIF report noted that these proximate security assets should have facilitated a firmer border response, particularly on July 31, but officers instead observed a reaction that was progressively slower than the emergency required.

Media coverage by El Español reported that approximately 70,000 migrants entered Ceuta during the event. The outlet alleged that Moroccan gendarmes, acting under instructions from plainclothes agents pursuing non-migratory objectives, actively guided individuals toward the border fence. In separate reporting, figures citing up to 72,000 arrivals were circulated regarding the late-summer border movements.

Interior Ministry inquiries and police denials

The publication of the report prompted actions inside the Spanish government on Wednesday morning. Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska instructed the Director General of the Spanish National Police to provide a full accounting of the CENIF text. Grande-Marlaska sought clarification on whether police services had produced documentation formally attributing the border crossing to Moroccan state security forces.

Throughout Wednesday, the Spanish Interior Ministry circulated statements from senior police commanders denying that an official document had established institutional blame:

No report had been issued attributing responsibility for the assault to a government, a service or a person, given that to this day, the intellectual author of said assault remains unknown.

The Director General of the Spanish National Police also publicly denied the existence of an approved report implicating Moroccan law enforcement.

Political pressure in Madrid

The leaked findings conflict with the official position maintained by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, whose administration has consistently exonerated Morocco from responsibility for the July border surge. Opposition politicians in Madrid seized on the leaked CENIF document to question the government's handling of North African border security and its defense of Moroccan authorities. The political debate in Spain follows public calls for protests over migration policy in the autonomous city of Ceuta.