he first groups were spotted before daybreak, in the hills above Fnideq. There were some three hundred of them, most from sub-Saharan countries, converging on the Ceuta border on the morning of Saturday, August 15, after weeks of calls relayed on social media. None reached the El Tarajal crossing.
By a quarter to three the provisional count given by a security source stood at two hundred and ninety-four interceptions, forty-six of them Moroccan. A further sixty-one people were arrested for inciting irregular migration.
The operation, which the Spanish press christened Operación Jaula, had sealed the town several days in advance, from road checks to drones over the mountain ground.
On July 30 and 31, tens of thousands of people had entered Ceuta. This time, the call did produce a crowd, it did not produce a crossing.
What remains in the enclave are the seven to nine thousand people the Spanish government still counts there.
Photo: Mario Sanchez Bueno, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Agencia EFE — dispatches of 15 August 2026 from Fnideq and Ceuta.
Delegación del Gobierno en Ceuta — security deployment of 15 August 2026.
