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Spanish Civil Guard Classifies “Chebakia” as Contraband and Disposes of It at the Occupied Ceuta Border
The debate has reignited at the Tarajal crossing, which separates the occupied Ceuta from Morocco, following the confiscation of food items held by a citizen claiming they were intended for family consumption, before a portion was disposed of on the grounds of exceeding the permitted quantity.
The case, detailed by the newspaper El Faro de Ceuta, involves a citizen who stated she purchased food items from Morocco and brought them through the crossing in a non-commercial capacity. However, according to her account, members of the Civil Guard subjected the contents of her bag to a manual search after prohibiting its passage through the X-ray machine, and requested that she empty it completely.
She clarified that the total quantity did not exceed about two and a half kilograms, which included two small bags of packaged Moroccan “chebakia.” She affirms that the product is industrially made and clearly labeled regarding its ingredients, noting that it does not contain eggs or dairy derivatives, but rather consists of flour, packaged honey, and vegetable oil.
According to her account, “chebakia” was classified as a type of “bread” and was counted against the permitted limit, which she was told was restricted to five loaves. She was informed, as per her narrative, that she had to choose only one product, and the remainder would be disposed of, before the sweets were discarded after being weighed and classified as bread, while retaining some small loaves to meet the allowed quota.
This incident has raised questions regarding the criteria used to classify permissible food items in the traveler system. The complainant asserts that no verification of the product’s nature or ingredients was conducted before the decision to dispose of it was made, nor was she allowed to return the items to Morocco to avoid loss, a procedure she claims is practiced at other Spanish crossings.
She points out that the signs in the customs area, as far as she can see, do not contain explicit warnings prohibiting the introduction of sweets, and there is no detailed and clear list of prohibited products, either at the crossing or in the governing texts, which raises concerns about the clarity of the rules and the expectations for their application.
She regards what happened as a violation of the principle of proportionality in administrative procedures, as family-consumed goods were destroyed without providing an alternative for return, in addition to relying on a descriptive assessment of the product’s nature without technical or analytical basis.
The incident, which others say they have experienced similarly at the same crossing, opens up the discussion on unifying the standards applied in Ceuta and Melilla compared to other border points and the need for a public protocol that clearly defines permissible and prohibited items, while ensuring the traveler’s right to return the item to the country of origin instead of proceeding directly to disposal.
