Ceuta and Melilla are key transit points for cocaine moving from Latin America through Africa and onwards to Europe, according to US diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks.

The cables also claim that the Spanish enclaves are important gateways for heroin destined for addicts in Morocco.


The claims were recorded in correspondence from the US embassy in Rabat and attributed to unnamed officials in the Moroccan government.

The documents, first published yesterday by El Pais newspaper in Spain, attribute the trend to South American drug cartels in both cities and the surrounding region, including the Canary Islands.

The gangs send drug shipments into West African countries and then across Mauretania, Mali and Algeria through sparsely populated areas of the Sahara desert.

They make the most of lax or nonexistent border controls to get the shipments into Morocco and the Spanish cities.

From there, the drugs are moved on commercial ferries across the Strait of Gibraltar to Algeciras.

Cocaine seizures are routine in Algeciras but no one knows how much gets through.

The US cables claimed inspections on the cross-Strait ships were less stringent than elsewhere in the EU."