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Spanish intelligence and police warned of Ceuta mass crossing a day in advance

Story by Javier Iniguez De Onzono
• 11h • 5 min read



Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez during his address to the Congress of Deputies on 3 September 2026© Borja Puig de la Bellacasa / Pool Moncloa

An urgent memo from the National Intelligence Centre (CNI), declassified on Wednesday and dated 29 July, confirms that the agency was aware, at least 24 hours in advance, of the possibility of a migrant crossing linked to Morocco's Throne Day celebrations.
The memo, declassified by the Spanish Prime Minister's Office, shows that Morocco's intelligence services, the DGST and DGED, were warned about several active WhatsApp groups that were "preparing an attempt to enter (...) next Thursday, 30 July".

Pedro Sánchez said on Wednesday, in an interview on 'Mañaneros 360', that the CNI had failed to effectively anticipate the migration and humanitarian crisis that eventually unfolded in Ceuta.
However, the Defence Minister maintains that the Centre did warn the Government Delegation in the autonomous city a day before the potential crisis. The memo, together with another declassified WhatsApp conversation, backs Margarita Robles on this latter point.
"Without questioning their professionalism, a mass arrival of so many migrants was certainly not anticipated," the socialist president said in Wednesday's interview, criticised by the TVE News Council for being conducted on a programme made by an external production company rather than by the public broadcaster itself and without any journalists from the corporation.
In doing so, Sánchez once again aligned himself with his Interior Minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, in the dispute with Robles over communications. Grande-Marlaska has consistently maintained that he did not receive any official communication warning of a possible mass border crossing.

Related video: Spanish intelligence warned of plans to storm Ceuta before mass migrant crossing (Cover Media US)

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Spanish intelligence warned of plans to storm Ceuta before mass migrant crossing

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Both Grande-Marlaska and Sánchez have also maintained throughout that Morocco did not play an active role in the crisis, despite journalistic evidence (the migrants' own accounts of the behaviour of Moroccan guards) and subsequent private and police reports pointing in that direction.
The new document from the CNI, declassified by Moncloa itself, confirms that at the very least, the intelligence services of the Alaouite kingdom received a warning from the Spanish state on the matter.

A second police document and two internal conversations corroborate the CNI's account

The National Centre for Immigration and Borders (CENIF) also issued a warning on 29 July, in another of the declassified communications sent to its border posts in Ceuta and Melilla, of a "high" likelihood of entry by swimming. "This Centre (...) has obtained information about a potential risk of irregular entries into the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla, forecast for 30 July 2026".
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"It cannot be guaranteed that this will happen, but when this type of activity has been detected on social media and other forums, on some occasions it has ended up materialising," the document warns, also referring to a "medium" likelihood of entry both over the land fences and by sea, as well as a "medium-low" likelihood if organisers were to combine the two options.
Likewise, two other declassified WhatsApp conversations show contact between the various branches of the state's security apparatus and the Government Delegation in the autonomous city, a post separate from the Ceuta presidency and which, in practice, answers to the central government of the day.
In the first, an exchange between an unnamed CNI official and the Ceuta Delegation's office, they also warn of the possibility of crossings both over the fence and by sea. The conversation is dated 13:52 on 29 July and has been transcribed without changes except to improve readability.

CNI: On social media, there is a call to storm the fence and the sea tomorrow at 20:00, taking advantage of Throne Day, when their security forces will be busy. There are two different groups with a total of 180,000 followers, just so you get an idea of how far this is spreading.
Delegation: [11-minute phone call at 21:34]
The second takes place between the CNI and the Guardia Civil, and deals with the same issue:
CNI: [Unanswered call at 13:53]
CNI: [Name classified] I'm calling you about the situation in Ceuta. We have information about an attempt to enter by swimming and jumping the fence tomorrow, on Throne Day. We have several groups on Facebook and WhatsApp encouraging these crossings.
[Missed call at 13:59 from the Guardia Civil's Special Central Unit 3]
UCE-3: [Name classified] I'm sorry, all this has kept me away from base, and it's not easy for me to sort out. These days, [name classified], who has been away for a few months, is around, as well as [name classified]. You can call me too.

Sánchez defends his actions but admits shortcomings in the face of "hybrid attacks" and in resources in Ceuta

During the interview, the president argued that the gradual arrival of hundreds of people swimming in every day during the second half of July ("a slight peak", in his words) did not allow them to foresee the final figure of 80,000 people who went on to set foot in the Afro-European exclave on 30 and 31 July. For now, it is not known what percentage of migrants still remain in Ceuta, but the city, the government and the police all work with an estimate of roughly 5,000 to 10,000 people.
"What would another government have done? Would it have started shooting at those young people, minors, boys and girls? Or wasn't it smarter to allow them to enter so that subsequently, 90% of them, in the following hours or days, could leave?" the president said, providing misleading figures both for the percentage of people remaining in the exclave and for the speed of their evacuation, whether back to Morocco or to the rest of Spain in the case of minors.

Sánchez acknowledged that "the state", without placing the responsibility on his own government, must prepare for possible new episodes of this nature. "One issue is how we prepare for hybrid attacks of this nature," he said. "Of course, we have to invest much more in border control and the perimeter (...) and be aware that we need reception infrastructure."
Despite the indirect backing Grande-Marlaska has received from the head of government, Sánchez has been critical of the list of journalists and radio and television pundits drawn up (and leaked) by the Interior Ministry itself. It singles out several hundred media professionals in Spain by name, surname and presumed ideology. "I think it is a very inappropriate document", the socialist leader said.

Spanish intelligence and police warned of Ceuta mass crossing a day in advance