Authorities say a Moroccan man has died from suffocation while being smuggled by his brother into Spain inside a suitcase that was in the trunk of a car on a ferry crossing.

Francisco Jerez, spokesman for the Interior Ministry's office in Almeria, said the 27-year-old man was found late Sunday when his brother sought medical help for him on the ferry just before arriving in the southern Spanish port.

Speaking Monday, Jerez said the brother, a Moroccan with a French passport, was arrested.

The ferry had come from Melilla, one of two Spanish port city enclaves in northwest Africa that are bordered by Morocco and the Mediterranean Sea.

Thousands of migrants from Morocco try to enter the European Union illegally via Spain each year.

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