Gibraltar and the Campo referenced in Spanish declassified intelligence reports 

There are references to Gibraltar and the Campo de Gibraltar in Spanish intelligence reports declassified following the row in Spain over whether Pedro Sanchez’s government was warned of the migrant surge of July 30/31 and if it could have prevented the crisis in Ceuta. 

The official documents, seen by the Chronicle, specifically mention the removal of the border fence between Gibraltar and La Línea, a fall in migration to the Iberian Peninsula and a general assessment of migration pressures in the days preceding that event. 

The Centro de Coordinación para la Vigilancia Marítima del Estrecho (CECORVIGMAR) of the Guardia Civil had noted, on July 22, that the Nueva Melilla political party and the Muslim community in that city had requested the “removal of the border fence as has been done in Gibraltar” for “better cooperation between countries.” 

Another report from the Centro Nacional de Inteligencia (CNI) on July 27 reflected a general decline in migration from Africa to Spain, with additional analysis of the migrants’ countries of origin. 

Paradoxically, Algeria rather than Morocco clearly dominates these statistics. 

The document also recorded an increase in migratory pressures on Ceuta and Melilla. 

“Irregular arrivals from Algeria’s coastlines continue to be the most numerous, with a predominance of Algerian nationals. This country’s authorities try to halt the activity of organised people smugglers, but they are tackling a large influx of migrants,” the report says. 

The declassified documents also include several reports and graphs examining immigration by sea to the Iberian Peninsula. 

Those reports show that 206 people made the sea voyage to the province of Cádiz by June 2026, a 14% increase from 2025’s 181, numbers that pale into insignificance compared to the scenes in Ceuta. 

 ‘SURGE' WARNING 

The declassified documents also include a warning communicated, on July 30 by the Policía Nacional’s Centro de Migración y Fronteras border monitoring centre, of a “massive surge” of people attempting to cross the Strait in the immediate aftermath of 80,000 migrants entering Ceuta by swimming. 

The alert passed on information gleaned by Frontex and Policía Nacional customs officers at the ports of Ceuta, Algeciras and Tarifa, where questioning had led them to understand that the migrants’ ultimate goal was to reach the Iberian Peninsula, something they immediately reported up their respective chains of command. 

Frontex officers were stationed in Ceuta as part of Operation Minerva 2026, the annual cooperative effort between the European Border and Coast Guard Agency and Spanish law enforcement and front-line customs officers, detectives, dog handlers and specialists in forged documents and cross-border crime from across the EU reinforce the bloc’s southern border at Ceuta, Tarifa and Algeciras. 

The warning also explained what appeared to be the migrants’ chosen method of smuggling themselves into Spain, “hiding inside acquaintances’ vehicles and entering the [Iberian] Peninsula past the customs posts at Algeciras, Tarifa and the Port of Ceuta.” 

The Policía Nacional’s monitoring centre advised the targeted ports to “painstakingly” inspect vehicles and vessels seeking to cross the Strait. 

In actuality and to this day, the expected deluge of migrants arriving in Spain has been reduced to a trickle crossing on boats or jet skis and intercepted in Algeciras, Tarifa and La Línea.