Elderly Smuggler Dies of Heart Attack at Ceuta Border, Highlighting Risks

This latest death once again raises the debate on the precarious conditions faced by these elderly people. They are increasingly numerous to practice the profession of porter, at the peril of their lives.

According to Hespress, which reports the eyewitness account of this sad scene, the old man, "a resident of Fnideq, was engaged in the smuggling trade. He died while sitting, crouched, in the long queue, without anyone noticing, before realizing that the septuagenarian was no longer following the progress of the queue".

Following this observation, the same source reports that the body of the deceased was transported to the morgue of the "Hassan II" hospital in Fnideq. An investigation has been opened by the security authorities into the circumstances of the death. And, to recall, that on January 15, 2018, two women carriers of goods, also called "mule women", lost their lives in a stampede, at this same border between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Ceuta.

More recently, four other mule women died, trampled in stampedes, still at this border post, which enjoys the status of a free port, the same source recalls.