Madrid – A Spanish newspaper has revealed new details about the scale of Moroccan intelligence activities in Spain, reporting that Spanish security and intelligence agencies estimate that more than 600 individuals linked to Moroccan espionage services have been present on Spanish territory in recent years, while the number reportedly rose to nearly 900 during periods of heightened tensions between the two countries.
The Spanish newspaper La Razón reported that Spain’s National Intelligence Centre (CNI) compiled a dossier containing the names and movements of more than 600 individuals believed to have worked for Moroccan intelligence services inside Spain, following a major cyber intrusion targeting Moroccan intelligence agencies last August.
According to the information published by the newspaper, the leak reportedly involved 70,381 names believed to be linked to the General Directorate for Territorial Surveillance (DGST) and the General Directorate for Studies and Documentation (DGED). The disclosure triggered heightened alert within Spanish security services, which began cross-checking the leaked data against their own databases.
The information indicates that Spanish authorities are treating the list of 600 as comprising individuals who had previously operated or been present in Spain, without this necessarily meaning that all of them are still actively operating in the country. Spanish intelligence sources also reportedly believe that some of the names are outdated and that the leak could expose intelligence networks that had been operating for years.
The case is particularly sensitive given the repeated tensions between Madrid and Rabat, especially over issues related to migration, security, counterterrorism, drug trafficking, and Ceuta and Melilla. According to the Spanish report, Moroccan intelligence activities focus on monitoring political, security, social and economic issues that Rabat considers to be of strategic importance.
The newspaper also revealed that around 15 to 20 individuals from the leaked list work at the Moroccan Embassy in Madrid, a practice that Spanish intelligence services reportedly regard as a common method of providing diplomatic cover for certain intelligence operatives.
These developments come after a major leak of data belonging to Moroccan intelligence services, in an episode that could expose Morocco’s espionage network in Europe to one of the largest public disclosures of its identities and activities in recent years.
The case raises awkward questions about the extent of Moroccan intelligence activities inside a European state that is a member of the European Union, as well as about the nature of the issues and targets that have been given priority by the intelligence services in Rabat.
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