King Mohammed mistaken for people trafficker

NEWS has emerged from Morocco that Spanish Guardia Civil officers apprehended King Mohammed VI whilst he was on his speedboat close to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, earlier this month.

According to Spanish daily newspaper El Mundo, King Mohammed called King Felipe to express his displeasure at the treatment he received from the Guardia Civil. The Spanish monarch, who had visited Morocco just a few weeks prior to the incident, informed his Interior Minister Fernandez Dias, of King Mohammed VI’s displeasure with the incident.

King Mohammed had been enjoying a day’s jet skiing, when the Guardia Civil spotted his two speed boats and three jet skis. According to reports,a patrol approached the vessels and ordered them to stop, officers proceeded to demand their occupants identify themselves.

King Mohammed VI, immediately intervened. He approached the Guardia Civil and asked them if they did not know who he was. The Spanish officers replied that they did not know him. However, after removing his sunglasses, one of the officers recognised him and asked his colleagues to stop their inquiries.

Interior minister, Fernandez Dias, immediately called the delegate of the government in Ceuta, and together they devised a plan to fix what could amount to an offence to King Mohammed VI. The Spanish Minister also called his Moroccan counterpart, Mohamed Hassad to explain the steps taken to undo the mess.

The head of the Civil Guard, Lieutenant Colonel Andrés López, was dispatched by speedboat to deliver a profuse apology to King Mohammed VI.

El Mundo reports that the Moroccan monarch, shook the officers’ hands and stated they “had done their job perfectly” but that he “had not been respected.” 

Mohammed VI is also known as ‘Amir al Mu’minin,’upon inheriting the throne from his father he promised his subjects to improve the human rights records in Morocco. He has earned the title ‘guardian of the poor,’ for making the fight against poverty his priority. In the face of severe displeasure from Morocco’s religious conservatives, he also created ‘Mudawana,’ the law based on Koranic principles which grants extra rights to women in cases of divorce and property ownership.