Ceuta’s rape epidemic continues as JUPOL, Spain’s largest National Police trade union, described a disturbing practice established by illegal migrants who remained in the Spanish enclave after the 30–31 July mass invasion.
According to JUPOL spokeswoman Laura García, groups of Moroccan and North African illegal migrants drag girls into the mountainous terrain around the local reception centre and sexually assault them.
The area, called Jaral, contains embankments, secluded recesses, and dense vegetation. ‘They hide them there and rape them,’ a JUPOL source cited by an earlier report by El Español explained. Many of these assaults, it continued, are committed in groups.
Reuters independently reported similar concerns about women’s safety in Ceuta since the crisis. The outlet interviewed migrant women living in the area, who told them that men were trying to attack girls every night, even following them to the toilet. Women, especially minors, must remain beside the police, El Español quoted a migrant woman as saying, because if they crossed to the other side, ‘they rape them’.
The recent reporting adds to an increasingly chaotic and dangerous situation in the enclave. As of 15 August, the Guardia Civil had confirmed 15 rape cases since the invasion, with two suspects, both of whom entered from Morocco on 30–31 July, arrested. SUP, another police trade union, told Reuters that of the 15 reported sexual assaults, the significant majority involved minors, and they took place almost exclusively in wooded areas.
The National Police confirmed to Maldita on 18 August, stating that it had registered 11 complaints from Moroccan minors for sexual assault, and said both the victims and perpetrators were Moroccan illegal migrants who arrived during the mass invasion. RTVE had already reported that at least four migrant minors had received medical treatment for sexual assault and that the courts were processing complaints.
On 19 August, Cadena SER reported that the Ceuta administration and the Ministry of Youth and Children are working on an emergency plan to remove around 500 migrant girls from the streets and ultimately transfer them to mainland Spain. Six temporary locations are being opened in Ceuta immediately; 96 girls had already spent the previous night in a newly opened facility. Officials say more than 350 girls are already protected within the reception system and expect the number accommodated to exceed 800.
The overall number of minors still in Ceuta remains uncertain, and official and NGO estimates differ substantially. The Interior Ministry said on 18 August that police had identified more than 2,000 underage illegal migrants since 30 July and that they remained in the enclave awaiting either repatriation or transfer elsewhere in Spain, while the Ceuta government said it was currently sheltering 1,372, leaving roughly 800 already identified but outside its formal protection network.
Local authorities warned that the real total could be considerably higher. Officials coordinating the new emergency operation now estimate that fewer than 3,000 minors remain in Ceuta. NGOs have produced much higher estimates: Save the Children said on 13 August that around 1,500 were inside the protection system and another 4,000 remained outside it.
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