A Moroccan teen who entered Spain underneath a lorry has become a serving police officer in one of Andalucia’s most important districts.
Marouane Chhayby, now 28, joined the Policia Local three years ago, and has just been accepted into the important Sevilla force.
At the Fibes conference centre on Monday, the city council and police leadership honoured him with a video tribute. As it ended, the entire audience rose to their feet and applauded.
Originally from Kenitra, a coastal city around 30km from Rabat, Chhayby comes from a modest family, including his father, a pastry chef and his mother, a homemaker.
As a teenager, he longed to reach Spain ‘in search of a better future.’
He recalls waiting on Fridays for the buses from Kenitra heading to the port of Tanger Med, where he and others would hide beneath them.
One Tuesday morning, concealed under a lorry, he successfully made the crossing and arrived at the port of Algeciras.
‘As soon as I arrived, the police picked me up and took me to a centre for minors,’ he remembers.
Due to overcrowding, he was later moved to another youth facility in Sevilla, where he spent his time as a so-called MENA (an unaccompanied foreign minor).
When he turned 18, he was placed in supervised accommodation thanks to his good behaviour.
He completed compulsory secondary education, though he struggled to find the time.
‘I needed an alternative,’ he said.
‘I went to live with the Salesians. They supported me, they are people who want the best for you. They cared about me at a time when no one else really did.’
At 25, he passed the competitive exam to join the local police.
‘I’ve been emotional only twice in my life,’ he said, ‘the first time was under the lorry, when I realised I had made it into Spain. The second was when I passed the police exam.
‘That memory of being under the truck came back to me. I told my parents, and I just wanted to live this, experience it, because it was what I truly wanted.’
Chhayby says he is thriving in Sevilla, helped by colleagues who, he says, make everything feel ‘simple and welcoming’.
‘I go to work full of enthusiasm,’ he added.
He also explained that when he deals with Moroccan citizens, many are initially surprised.
‘But they like seeing someone from their own country working as a police officer,’ he said.
The reaction from children, he added, is especially meaningful: ‘It shows them that when you fight for something and put in the work, you can achieve it.’
Read more Andalucia news at the Spanish Eye.
