By six each morning, Malika and thousands of other lady smugglers known as porteadoras gather at the foot of an immense metal corral that connects Morocco and Spain.
This is how a vodka-bottle belt is made. Alcohol is frowned on by Morocco’s Muslim majority, but it’s still easy to find in discreet black plastic bags sold in supermarkets.porteadorasAch adu an la ilaha ila lah wa ach adu anna mohammadan rasulo allah
Malika has been smuggling stuff across this border for ten years. She hauls as many of those enormous bags beside her as time permits.
Spanish authorities, the Guardia Civil, organize the line in order to avoid tumults and body avalanches. They also arrange for Moroccan security forces to charge a one-euro commission to each woman each way.
Annons
The Guardia Civil often gets handsy with the porteadoras.Right this way, poor and hapless smugglers
This woman has just passed through the two checkpoints and, already on the Moroccan side, walks to the point of delivery.
The border of Beni-Enzar, between Nador and Melilla, as seen from the Moroccan side.
A porteadora has just been loaded with a massive bale on the Spanish side of the border.
