Alex Trelinski
MOROCCAN authorities have found the entrance of a drug smuggling tunnel going into Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta.
Somewhat embarrassingly it was inside a house in a zone used exclusively by the Moroccan army.
The Ceuta end was discovered by the Guardia Civil in February during a search of a warehouse.
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Morocco has stayed silent since then but several people have been identified as being involved in the construction and operation of the tunnel with arrests expected in the next few days.
The seriousness is such that high level ‘dismissals’ are expected given that the tunnel was built in an area under army control.
Among those investigated is a man with a long history of drug trafficking who might have been a key figure in building the tunnel.
Moroccan police accessed it thanks to the help of a company that sent workers to the site.
They drilled from an area known as Arroto de las Bombas to reach the tunnel entrance.
The Guardia Civil believe the route was used for two years and such was the extent of heavy machinery needed to build it, they believe it was ‘unthinkable’ that major figures were not involved on both sides of the border.
The 12-metre deep tunnel stretched for 50 metres in the Spanish section and its Ceuta entrance was found in a former marble factory that closed in 2020.
The passageway was hidden by a trapdoor that gave way to a stairway descending into the tunnel.
14 people have been arrested so far in Ceuta including two Guardia officers and a Ceuta city councillor, Mohamed Duas.
His brother and nephew loaded up vehicles with drugs and whisked them through Ceuta port controls, thanks to bribes given to the two officers.
