El Periódico: New Espionage Scandal Exposes Morocco’s Intelligence Operations in Spain

BY: Dr. Hana Saada

Algiers, Algeria | December 21st, 2024 — In a shocking revelation, the Spanish newspaper El Periódico exposed a new espionage scandal involving Morocco, with accusations of stealing sensitive military information from the Canary Islands and Melilla. The operation, orchestrated by Morocco’s intelligence services under the leadership of Yassine Mansouri, a key figure involved in the recent European parliamentary corruption scandal, highlights a troubling escalation in Morocco’s covert activities in Spain. According to the report, a network of four Moroccan spies successfully infiltrated Spanish military protocols, stealing classified data before fleeing the country.

The stolen information pertains to critical military protocols concerning the Canary Islands and Melilla, which have heightened suspicions about Morocco’s strategic ambitions in Spanish territories. The espionage operation, which involved the duplication of sensitive data regarding at least two Spanish soldiers, has ignited a political and intelligence crisis within Spain’s security services.

As the scandal unfolds, the involvement of a third party, namely France, adds another layer of complexity. Sources within European intelligence suggest that French intelligence may have provided logistical and informational support to Morocco in its espionage campaign against strategic Spanish regions. This revelation raises concerns about France’s growing alignment with Morocco, which has fostered increasingly closer bilateral relations over recent years. These ties seem to be taking precedence over France’s traditional role as a European ally, with French support for Morocco potentially undermining Spain’s regional security interests.

The El Periódico report further suggests that France’s  involvement might be driven by geopolitical motivations, notably its desire to counter Spain’s influence in the Maghreb region. Specifically, it’s believed that France may have sought to weaken Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s position, particularly in relation to Morocco. By supplying Moroccan intelligence services with sensitive information on NATO military installations in Spanish territories such as Ceuta and Melilla, France may have aimed to undermine Spain’s strategic role within the Atlantic alliance.

The newspaper also notes that these concerns are not new, as previous unverified reports in 2022 had warned of potential leaks of sensitive Spanish defense information originating from NATO bodies. Such leaks could facilitate Morocco’s military intelligence activities and serve to weaken Spain’s defensive capabilities, while simultaneously bolstering Morocco’s geopolitical aspirations in the region.

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