RABAT, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- Moroccan police have arrested a Spanish citizen and his Moroccan accomplice in the northern city of Tangier for smuggling migrants to Spain by inflatable vessels, local media reported Thursday.

The two, aged 35 and 45 respectively, are suspected of working as part of a criminal network active in organizing and facilitating illegal migration, the Moroccan news site Hespress.com reported.

Search operations are underway to arrest another suspect, who has been identified, it added.

The arrests in Tangier came after Morocco's Navy opened fire on a speedboat carrying illegal migrants that was being driven by another Spaniard, killing one person and wounding three others aboard.

The Moroccan authorities said in a statement Tuesday that four people were wounded after a naval unit in the Mediterranean was forced to fire on the boat after its Spanish captain refused to respond to several warnings.

In recent months, Morocco has been witnessing a significant hike in illegal migration attempts.

Morocco thwarted at least 54,000 attempts to smuggle illegal migrants into Europe in the first eight months of 2018, compared with 39,000 attempts a year earlier, the Moroccan government said.