Moroccan Officials Seek Spanish Citizenship Through Local Elections, Sparking Investigation

A network composed of the son of the former Mayor of Melilla and a Moroccan is active in recruiting political officials in the northern regions. This ease for elected officials to obtain Spanish nationality has prompted several personalities to run for municipal elections.

The network in question begins by offering residence permits to municipal officials, before inviting them to apply for naturalization. The absurdity, according to the daily Assabah which reports the information, is that all the residence permits are domiciled at the same address, in particular, in the apartment of the son of the former Mayor of the city.

Municipal officials who have managed to obtain Spanish nationality then become recruiters of new candidates, on behalf of the Spanish network. The phenomenon has spread rapidly in the cities of Nador and Al Hoceima, leading the Ministry of the Interior to launch an investigation into the situation.

Due to the sensitivity of the positions of municipal officials, the Ministry has decided to extend its investigations to the Spanish enclave of Melilla, in order to determine, on the one hand, the existing relationships between the people involved and the son of the former Mayor, and, on the other hand, the impact of the same address on the residence permits. The Moroccan authorities suspect the use of the naturalization operation for espionage purposes.