Police discover drug-smuggling tunnel linking Morocco and Spanish enclave of Ceuta

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MADRID (AP) — Spanish authorities on Wednesday announced the discovery of a suspected drug smuggling tunnel linking Morocco with the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, in North Africa.

The tunnel, which was found during an operation targeting hashish trafficking, was fitted with basic lighting and measures 12 meters deep (39 feet), police said. It was located during a search at a warehouse in an industrial part of the tiny Spanish territory.

Spain’s El País newspaper reported that the tunnel stretched for 50 meters in the Spanish section, and that the mouth of the tunnel 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, the newspaper reported.

The narrow tunnel "could have been used to transport drugs across the border between Morocco and Spain,” the Civil Guard said in a statement. No arrests have been made in connection with the tunnel and no drugs were found at the site.

Police said several people have been detained in recent weeks, including two Civil Guard officers, as part of the broader crackdown on drugs, during which more than 6,000 kilograms (6.6 tons) of hashish stashed in trucks was seized.

Ceuta and Melilla, another small Spanish enclave in North Africa, form Europe's only land border with Africa. Earlier this year, Spain and Morocco opened customs in Ceuta and Melilla to allow the transfer of goods between the two countries at the land border.