Spain says Moroccan help cuts immigrant arrests

Improved ties with Morocco following the election earlier this year of a Socialist government in Spain has led to a drop in illegal immigrants trying to make the perilous journey in flimsy boats.

Under the former right-wing government of Jose Maria Aznar, ejected at the polls days after the al Qaeda-linked Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people in March, relations with Morocco were often strained.

But the new Socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has moved to improve links with Morocco. Many of those arrested in connection with the train bombings are Moroccan.

The government said yesterday police had detained 10,042 illegal immigrants so far this year - down from the 11,054 arrested in the same period of last year because of the closer cooperation with Morocco to combat the illegal flow.

The Interior Ministry said the drop was also due to an increase in arrests made in Morocco.

More than half of those arrested this year were from Morocco and there were also large numbers from Mali and Gambia, it said.

The Moroccan state news agency MAP reported on Tuesday that Morocco had arrested 300 would-be migrants trying to reach European shores illegally.

Official Moroccan media reported hundreds more arrests in August, a peak month for would-be immigrants from Morocco and other African countries to take to rickety boats and attempt the hazardous passage to the Canary Islands or southern Spain. Some die in the attempt.

Arrested immigrants are usually held in Spanish detention centres until their legal status is determined but Moroccans can be deported immediately under a bilateral agreement.