Founded in 1987 and led by a colonel-major, the unit's headquarters are confidential, located between Skhirat and Témara.[4][5][6] The GSIGR corps has around a hundred members and is shrouded in secrecy, with its missions, always sensitive, being kept secret. However, the unit has occasionally opened up to the media.[4]
Members are chosen from the Meknes Royal Military Academy and are transferred to the Royal School of Gendarmerie in Marrakesh, with only cadets showing "exceptional physical and mental abilities" are transferred to the GSIGR.[4][2] The unit is deployed on direct orders from the gendarmerie's general command and is organized to respond urgently to all types of terrorist threats and to restore public order.[7][8]
In 1988, the GIGR rescued nine French speleologists in the Win-Timdouine cave after a three day long rescue operation which involved delivering aid, which is one of the biggest underground systems in Africa.[6][9]
In April 2007, the GIGR launched a raid in Casablanca against suspected terrorist cells which resulted in the death of a police officer, three militants detonating their suicide vests and a fourth being shot dead by police.[4] In 2010, following the events in Gdeim Izik, the GIGR arrested numerous sympathizers of the Polisario Front.[10]
