Spain "will not tolerate" the use of "illegal migration as a weapon of pressure", Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said today.

This was an indirect warning to Morocco, with which Spain recently improved its relations, AFP reported.

The severe diplomatic crisis that has pitted the two countries for nearly a year was resolved in mid-March following a sharp change in Spain's policy on Western Sahara.

During the crisis in mid-May 2021, in just 48 hours, more than 10,000 migrants arrived in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta due to the loosening of border controls by Moroccan authorities.

Although Madrid and Rabat have already agreed, "Spain will not tolerate the instrumentalization of the tragedy of illegal migrants as a weapon of pressure," Sanchez warned Spanish lawmakers.

"The best instrument is international co-operation," he added, defending the importance of normalizing relations with Rabat.

The calming of relations with Morocco in mid-March, where most migrants leave for the Spanish coast, has led to a drop in the number of refugees arriving.

According to Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlasca, the number of migrants arriving in the Canary Islands in April was 70 percent lower than in February, BTA added.