The Executive has decided to activate the Armed Forces to support and reinforce the Civil Guard in the tasks of maintaining order and security in the autonomous city of Ceuta.
Sources from Moncloa cited by Europa Press indicate that the military who move to the area will act under the coordination of the operations command and will provide direct support to the armed institute, which remains responsible for monitoring the border perimeter.
The incorporation of the Army constitutes the most notable element of the extraordinary operation designed by the Government to respond to the strong increase in irregular entries recorded in recent hours.
In parallel, the Ministry of the Interior has increased the resources of the Civil Guard. To the 60 agents of the Reserve and Security Group (ARS) who were already permanently assigned to border control, a first platoon of 20 guards has been added.
Furthermore, the Executive has announced that in the coming hours two more platoons will join, with an additional 40 personnel.
The Citizen Security units have also been reinforced with 30 civil guards arriving from different commands in Andalusia. Likewise, two groups from the Special Underwater Activities Group (GEAS) have been transferred to Ceuta, with a total of eight specialists.
The deployment at sea has also been expanded. To the two medium vessels and the four zodiac-type boats of the Maritime Service, the ship Duque de Ahumada has been incorporated, whose arrival at the Ceuta port is expected in the early hours of July 31.
In the coming days, the Government anticipates the arrival of five boat captains, three mechanic-sailors, and drone pilots in order to intensify control and surveillance efforts. The Air Service has also received a support helicopter.
The National Police, on the other hand, has increased its personnel both in immigration and in citizen security. The General Commissariat of Immigration and Borders has sent a team of six specialists to Ceuta to assist in the identification and documentation of the people who have accessed the city.
In the field of citizen security, the agents of the Police Intervention Unit (UIP) and the Prevention and Reaction Unit (UPR) already stationed in Ceuta are working double shifts through extraordinary days.
Additionally, this Thursday three teams from the UIP coming from Seville have been incorporated. In the coming days, the arrival of personnel from the Central UIP and the UIP of Málaga is expected, until completing a contingent of 200 UIP and UPR agents specifically dedicated to reinforcing citizen security in the autonomous city.
The migratory crisis unleashed this Thursday, July 30, in Ceuta, with the entry of thousands of people bordering the border fence, is considered the most serious in the last five years, since in May 2021 Morocco relaxed controls and around 8,000 people managed to access Spanish territory.
In the last 24 hours, the units in charge of border surveillance in Ceuta have recovered the lifeless bodies of ten migrants. With these findings, there are already 38 foreigners found dead in Ceuta's waters when trying to reach the Spanish coast by swimming from Morocco.