Rabat (AFP) - Moroccan police announced Thursday the arrest of two sub-Saharan Africans suspected of preparing an attempt to illegally enter the Spanish enclave of Melilla in northern Morocco.

The two men were placed in pretrial detention after their arrest on Wednesday evening in Oujda (northeast), near the border with Algeria , according to a statement issued by the General Directorate of National Security, which did not specify their nationalities.

The statement added that their arrest came hours after the arrest of 55 irregular immigrants, including 13 minors from Sudan, Chad and Algeria, who entered Moroccan territory illegally.

The General Directorate of National Security confirmed that after a search of their home, passports, a laptop computer, money in Moroccan and foreign currency, and receipts for money transfers were confiscated.

It also discovered 274 iron hooks for use in climbing the metal fences on the borders of the Spanish enclave.

And she added that he was suspected of "being involved in preparing to organize an illegal immigration operation by climbing the fence separating the cities of Nador and Melilla."

On Sunday, the Moroccan authorities arrested a group of 25 irregular Sudanese and Chadian immigrants near Nador, according to a judicial source.

It also indicated that it had dismantled in October and August in Oujda a network for forging documents with the aim of obtaining Schengen visas.

On June 24, about 2,000 migrants from Sudan attempted to enter the Spanish enclave by force through the Nador border crossing, killing 23 migrants, according to an official Moroccan toll.

And this tragedy is the deadliest of all among the many attempts of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa to enter the Spanish enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta, which represent the only land borders of the European Union with the African continent.

According to human rights organizations, this came as a result of the resumption of cooperation in the field of migration between Rabat and Madrid, following their reconciliation in March, after a year of diplomatic dispute.