Soldier of Fortune Magazine The Journal of Professional Adventurers
by A.R. Fomenko
“The ghost has been illuminated.”
VIENNA BUREAU – It was the kind of pursuit that runs slow and cold. Spanish authorities hunted in vain for years to uncover a smuggling tunnel between Morocco and a tiny exclave of Spain within the North African country. The underground passageway was so elusive, they called it “the ghost.” In February of this year, they found it, thanks to a fortuitous drug bust.
My source in Madrid sent a message: “The ghost has been illuminated.”
The tunnel connects Morocco to Ceuta, a Spanish autonomous city that sits along the North African coast, facing the European continent. It’s a day’s drive from Casablanca. To hear my source tell it, the old mysterious “White House” vibe persists in Ceuta; only, it’s gone underground. Literally.
My source, “Daniel,” knew about the tunnel because he has connections to Spain’s Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, which took part in the hunt. Fittingly, the hunt was part of a larger effort known as Operation Hades.
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Daniel agreed to tell me about the tunnel. He met me at a small bar in Madrid.
“We knew the tunnel was there,” he said. “But it was a phantom.”
In December 2023, investigators got their break.
Civil Guard agents intercepted a haul – three tons of hashish packed tightly inside a truck at the port of Ceuta. It was headed for Algeciras in Spain, the site of other major drug busts.
“That break was what we needed. It gave us a trail,” Daniel said. The trail led to an abandoned marble factory in the Tarajal Industrial Park, near the Moroccan border.
It was the kind of place you drive past without a second glance. But underneath, it hid a secret. Concealed beneath a trapdoor, there was a stairway leading 39 feet underground and into a tunnel. It is narrow and reinforced with timbers lining the walls to keep them from collapsing. Basic lights show the way through the dark passageway, which has many offshoots on the Spanish side.
Did people move quickly through the tunnel, or did they remain underground for any length of time?
“We didn’t find a kitchen,” Daniel said. “Not yet, anyway.”
Did you find any drugs, I asked.
“No. We only could go as far as Spanish territory allows.”
Spanish authorities blocked off the tunnel entrance. Now, they are working to map the full extent of the passageway. They are trying to determine how far it stretches into Moroccan territory; where it ends; and what – or who – might have moved through the corridor.
Spanish authorities are still awaiting confirmation from Moroccan officials on whether they have located the tunnel’s entrance on their side.
A slow-burn investigation, quiet and methodical, finally brought it to light. But as any investigator knows, when one tunnel closes, another one’s already being dug.
A.R. Fomenko is based out of Soldier of Fortune’s Vienna Bureau.
