The Makhzen’s New Espionage Scandal in Spain
The Moroccan Makhzen regime, which is accustomed to practising espionage and corruption, confirmed these tendencies through a new espionage operation in Spain, by stealing military information from the Canary Islands and Melilla with the support of its new ally France, according to what was confirmed by the Spanish newspaper “El Periodico”.
The Iberian newspaper revealed in its edition published last Tuesday that a network of four spies from the Moroccan intelligence service, led by Yassine Mansouri, the main element in the scandal of the Members of the European Parliament involved in corruption cases, stole military information from the Canary Islands and Melilla, before fleeing.
The Spanish newspaper confirmed that “this espionage operation, which concerns strategic information on the Canary Islands and Melilla related to military action protocols, reinforces the growing doubts about the goals of the Alawite Kingdom on Spanish soil.”
El Periodico added that “the recent escape of the four Moroccan spies after discovering their implication in copying secret information of at least two Spanish soldiers, has caused a political earthquake in the Spanish intelligence services.”
The newspaper explained that the revelation of this new espionage scandal is more worrying because it involves a third party, France.
“European intelligence sources indicate that French intelligence services may have provided logistical support and information to Morocco as part of an espionage campaign against strategic Spanish areas. Paris, whose relations with Rabat have strengthened in recent years, prefers its bilateral interests with Morocco over regional stability or its role as a European ally,” the same newspaper asserted.
The newspaper “El Periodico” added that France’s involvement in this scandal may be explained in particular by the latter’s desire “to spite its European and Atlantic ally, namely Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, to exclude him from the Maghreb region, especially Morocco, by providing information to the intelligence services of the Makhzen regime about NATO bases located on Spanish territory, especially in Ceuta and Melilla.
These suspicions are not new, as the Spanish newspaper reported that in 2022 “unofficial reports warned of the possibility of sensitive Spanish defence information leaked from NATO agencies, which would facilitate Moroccan interventions in the field of military intelligence, with the likely goal of weakening Spanish defence capabilities and strengthening Morocco’s geopolitical ambitions in the region.