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Frontex expands its support in Spain for the summer

Frontex and the Spanish National Police have launched Minerva, an annual operation that takes place in three Spanish ports during the busy summer holiday season.

Every year, Frontex provides additional border guard officers to Spain at the ports of Algeciras, Tarifa and Ceuta to assist with checking the people arriving from Morocco. The agency also deploys forged document experts and border guards trained to detect stolen cars. The information collected during the operation is important for the fight against criminal organisations and future investigations.

This summer, nearly 100 standing corps officers from 18 countries will be there to help speed up processing of passengers, while handling any possible illegal activities. During the peak summer days, border guards need to check as many as 10,000 cars and lorries arriving by ferries in the Spanish ports, along with thousands of documents.

The operation will run until September.