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Morocco, represented by the national police (DGSN), took part in the second edition of the cross-border international exercise «Neptune 2», initiated by the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) from 24 July to 8 August in several Mediterranean ports, including Tangier-Med, Tangier City and Bni-Ansar (Nador).
The Exercise brought together representatives of security services, law enforcement agencies and border police from six Mediterranean countries, namely Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Spain, France and Italy, in addition to experts from the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) and the World Customs Organisation, a DGSN statement says on Friday.
The strategic goals of the Exercise were to pool efforts and coordinate action plans between participating countries and organizations to detect and combat the movement of foreign terrorists by sea in the Mediterranean region, according to the same source.
On the ground, operations under this Exercise focused on strengthening cooperation in the field of information exchange on border crossing security, particularly in the area between southern Europe and northern Africa, in addition to consolidating systematic control operations of passengers and the thorough verification of their travel documents in ports in this area, as well as expanding control operations to include passenger and cargo vessels and activating the use of Interpol's databases in this field, the statement adds.
The operations carried out in this context made it possible to check the travel and identity documents of 98,466 travelers on the maritime lines linking southern Europe to the northern ports of the Kingdom, according to the same source, noting that a dozen intercontinental transport vessels have also been subjected to careful control, allowing the seizure of passports that have been declared stolen or missing in suspicious circumstances, both in Morocco and abroad.
This periodic Exercise reflects Morocco's commitment to international and regional efforts to combat the terrorist threat and cross-border crimes. It also confirms the interest shown by the DGSN in improving the availability of border police services and in cooperating with its counterparts of the Mediterranean region to deprive terrorists and suspects involved in organized crime of any possible movement across national borders, the statement concludes.
