RABAT, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Morocco thwarted at least 54,000 attempts to smuggle illegal immigrants into Europe in the first eight months of 2018, the government spokesman Mustapha El Khalfi said Thursday.

The figure testifies to the intense efforts made by the Moroccan authorities to fight illegal immigration networks, El Khalfi said during a press briefing following the weekly cabinet meeting.

The number of illegal immigration attempts between January and August in 2017 stood at 39,000, he noted.

According to the spokesman, Moroccan illegal immigrants represented 13 percent of the total number of illegal immigration attempts foiled by the end of August, compared to 20 percent a year earlier.

He said Moroccan authorities will continue their efforts to crack down on smuggling networks.