The Guardia Civil estimates that a total of 88,146 people returned to Morocco after the mass irregular entry into Ceuta recorded at the end of July. The Armed Institute raises the confirmed deaths to 90 and puts the number of rescues carried out by personnel of the Special Underwater Activities Groups (GEAS) and the Maritime Service in Spanish waters at 862.
These figures appear in a report dated October 27, which Europa Press has obtained access to, sent by the Guardia Civil to National Court judge María Tardón, who is instructing the investigation into the mass entry into Ceuta of people coming from Morocco on July 30 and 31. According to the figures provided by the Government, on those dates about 80,000 migrants entered Spanish territory.
In response to the magistrate’s request, the Armed Institute details that on July 29, the “standing force,” that is, the personnel available to provide service, was made up of 585 Civil Guards out of the total of 695 postings assigned to the Ceuta Command.
The document specifies that on September 4, the number of Civil Guards was 441 and that, as of October 19, it had risen to 546 agents. Since July 30, the Guardia Civil maintains a reinforcement device whose configuration “has been adapting to operational needs and the corresponding shifts.”
That deployment has included units such as the Reserve and Security Grouping (ARS), personnel deployed from Andalusia, GEAS, the Rapid Action Group (GAR), the Maritime Service, the Forensic Science Service, and the Air Service, in support of the units already present in Ceuta. The report also includes the technical and aerial resources mobilized since the start of the mass entry.
Prior warnings and Morocco’s actions
In an earlier report, the Guardia Civil had already pointed out that the alerts prior to the Ceuta crisis did not anticipate the scale of the mass entry of people that ultimately occurred through the border on July 30 and 31 from Morocco.
In addition, a lieutenant colonel of the Guardia Civil testified as a witness before Judge Tardón that, the night before the mass entry, he observed six Moroccan boats, “two of them patrol boats, two interceptors, and two minors.”
The commander also said that "there were Moroccan authorities giving orders," while describing that the military of the neighboring country was "with arms at their sides" as thousands of people crossed the border.
Likewise, the lieutenant colonel stated that "the border gate is always open" and insisted that, if it had been closed as the Police requested, "it would have been able to create a jam with crushing."
Within this case, Judge Tardón has asked different police units to submit reports about what happened in the autonomous city. These documents point to an attitude of passivity on the part of Morocco in matters of security and to the guiding of the migrants by Moroccan agents toward Spanish territory.