Elements of Spanish security, united under the banner of the “Patriotic Police”, spied on Moroccan diplomats accredited in Spain. The kingdom’s former consul in Barcelona, Ghoulam Maichane, currently ambassador to Guinea, was on the list of people targeted, reveals Catalan media.
These security forces suspected Moroccan officials of supporting independence forces in Catalonia. The kingdom’s consul in the regional capital was spied on between 2014 and 2016. In May 2013, Spain also expelled, on the orders of its counter-espionage services, the Moroccan national Noureddine Ziani, who was then residing in Catalonia for alleged links with independence groups in the region.
This espionage operation took place under the right-wing government led by former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of the Popular Party, adds the same source.
These excesses of the “Patriotic Police”, which do not only concern Morocco, are currently the subject of an investigation by the public prosecutor in Spain. The head of government, Pedro Sanchez, ordered the Minister of the Interior, Fernando-Grande Marlaska, to shed light on the illegal actions of these security forces in Catalonia.
