Meet the Moroccan migrant who burst through Spain’s border wearing Jude Bellingham’s shirt and wants to come to Britain

NOT long after watching England’s World Cup heroics on TV, Moroccan teenager Abde Ellakkoh pulled on his Three Lions strip and began swimming for his life. Plunging into the choppy waters of the Strait of Gibraltar, he was among 60,000 desperate migrants who breached border security to reach the Spanish territory of Ceuta last week. Abde Ellakkoh, 19, swam for hours to reach Ceuta from Moroccan Credit: Ian Whittaker Abde eventually hopes to reach the UK Credit: Ian Whittaker It was the first leg of a perilous journey that he hopes will lead to the motherland of football. With the name of his favourite player, Jude Bellingham, emblazoned on his shoulders, Abde, 19, told me: “I want to go to England to study and then become a mechanic. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! “I’m a big fan of the England team – especially Bellingham – after watching them at the World Cup. “I swam for three and half hours to get to Ceuta. It was very dangerous. Now I want to get to England.” Thousands of of people remain on the streets of Ceuta Credit: EPA Sun reporter Oliver Harvey is on the ground in Ceuta Credit: Ian Whittaker One of nine children from the Moroccan city of Tetouan, Abde wants to find work to help support his family after his father died. I met the younsgter sheltering from the blastfurnance 33C sun under a eucalyptus tree outside Ceuta’s immigration centre. With space for only 600 people, many others from the world’s trouble spots have crowded outside seeking shelter and sustenance. Most want onward passage to Spain, or France, but Bashar Asmail, a salesman from Yemen, tells me he has set his heart on reaching the UK. Most read in The Sun Many migrants attempt to evade Spanish cops and military personnel in bids to remain in Europe Credit: Ian Whittaker Clashes have broken out between migrants and police following mass crossings of migrants Credit: Reuters Speaking decent English, the 23-year-old said: “A group of us swam from Morocco and when we reached the middle of the sea one of my friends died. “I want to go to an English-speaking country. I speak English and Britain is the first on my mind. I want to go to Britain and continue my studies in medicine, His friends gathered around him and held up a ragged cardboard sign reading in biro: “We are from Yemen. Our country is not safe.” Since last week’s breakdown in border security over 48,000 have been frogmarched back across the frontier by Spanish cops and military personnel. Migrants care for a wounded person injured during clashes with the military Credit: Reuters Palestinian Saddam Awawdeh, 36, migrant outside the over crowded asylum centre in Ceuta Credit: Ian Whittaker Yet, thousands remain in Ceuta, trying to evade the security sweep. On Monday I witnessed a migrant desperately clinging to a tree as officers tried to wrench him free. And, at Ceuta’s border, I watched as trunchen-weilding Spanish soldiers herded around 20 migrants back onto Moroccan territory. Gesturing at the centre’s imposing ten-metre-high fences, Palestinian Saddam Awawdeh, 36, told me: “This place is full and we’re all just waiting. Egyptian Mohammed Saber, 33, swam for ten hours to reach Ceuta Credit: Ian Whittaker An estimated 60,000 migrants crossed from Morocco Credit: Ian Whittaker “We have no place to go. We’re just sleeping here nn the ground. We have no blankets, no food and water, nothing.” The dad-of-one, from Hebron on the West Bank, added : “I swam for seven and a half hours in the darkness. “I was risking my life, I saw two dead bodies in the water.” Now, he says he’s desperate to get to mainland Spain: “I want to finish my education and become a psychologist. Migrants lie on the streets of Ceuta Credit: Ian Whittaker Migrants continue to arrive at the small Spanish enclave of Ceuta many sleeping on the beach. Credit: Ian Whittaker “I’m looking for a peaceful, normal life away from wars and destruction.” Egyptian Mohammed Saber, 33, who swam for ten hours to reach Ceuta, pulls out his green passpart which managed to stay dry during his crossing. The house painter, 33, who has two children, said: “I’ve got a passport but no visa so I had to swim. Life is not good in Egypt. “I want to get to mainland Spain to work. I need to support my family.” On the shingle beach below the asylum centre, hundreds of migrants – mostly from West Africa – are stretched out in the sapping sunshine. Looking deceptively close, the Rock of Gibraltar – mainland Europe’s gateway – looms through a heat haze. It’s just nine miles across the waves from Ceuta to mainland Europe, a journey the bedraggled men beneath the eucalyptus trees hope they’ll be making soon. Comment now