Declassified documents: Spanish intelligence warned Morocco and Ceuta authorities a day before the mass border crossing

As the Spanish government had previously announced, it published on Wednesday evening 40 declassified documents and pieces of correspondence related to the Ceuta crisis.

The documents, now publicly available, reveal that on July 29 the National Intelligence Centre warned Moroccan intelligence services, the city’s authorities, and the Civil Guard about calls circulating on social media to enter the city by swimming or by crossing the border fence — one day before a wave of crossings involving more than 70,000 people.

The documents cover the period from July 1 to 31 and include reports and correspondence issued by the National Intelligence Centre, the Armed Forces Intelligence Centre, the National Police, and the Civil Guard.

Warning sent to Moroccan intelligence

Among the documents is a memo titled “Irregular migration: early warning of possible attempts to enter Ceuta during Throne Day week.” It shows that Spanish intelligence informed Morocco’s General Directorate for Territorial Surveillance and the General Directorate for Studies and Documentation that attempts to enter Ceuta by sea and across the fence were being planned to coincide with Throne Day celebrations.

The memo identified one WhatsApp group and two Facebook groups named “Storming the Ceuta Fence,” “Ceuta-Fnideq,” and “Harraga Ceuta,” with a combined membership of more than 160,000. These groups were circulating calls to attempt to cross the border the following day. One post reproduced in the document read: “Anyone who wants to cross has one last chance during Throne Day; at eight o’clock the authorities will be busy with the celebrations.” Another said: “Fnideq and Ceuta are open all week, so whoever wants to should seize the opportunity.”

In a separate WhatsApp message, a Spanish intelligence officer informed the chief of staff of the government delegation in Ceuta on July 29 of a call to “storm the fence and enter by sea” the next day, taking advantage of Throne Day and the fact that Moroccan security forces would be occupied.

The National Intelligence Centre also alerted the Civil Guard’s intelligence command and the National Centre for Immigration and Borders to the same calls. An officer from the agency attempted to contact a Civil Guard official before sending him a message that read: “We have information about an attempt to enter by swimming and to storm the fence tomorrow, coinciding with Throne Day. We have several Facebook and WhatsApp groups encouraging these entries.”

Documents contradict government delegation’s denial

The Civil Guard official replied minutes later that he was away from his office before directing the officer to the person standing in for him. The two later held a seven-minute phone call.

This correspondence contradicts the position of the government delegation in Ceuta, which denied, following remarks by Defence Minister Margarita Robles before Congress, that it had “at any time received a report warning of what was going to happen on July 30.”

However, the published documents confirm that its office did receive an intelligence alert regarding the calls being circulated.

The Spanish government said the available warnings pointed to possible attempts but did not anticipate the entry of more than 70,000 people over July 30 and 31. It added that the published documents had undergone anonymisation procedures and the removal of information that could affect state security or the operational capabilities of the agencies concerned.