The court in Casablanca began this Tuesday to try the defendants in the case of macro drug trafficking known as ‘The Escobar of the Sahara’, where personalities from the Moroccan sports and political elite are involved.
Among the people tried are the former deputy and former president of the famous football club Wydad of Casablanca, Naciri saidand the president of the eastern region of Morocco (covering the cities of Nador, Oujda and Berkane), the former parliamentarian Abdenabi Bioui.
They are suspected of having links to a major Malian drug trafficker with a nickname ‘The Escobar of the Sahara’ and who is serving a prison sentence Morocco.
The session took place in the Court of Appeal to Casablanca and the lawyers of Naciri and Bioui They asked for the temporary release of their clients, as they themselves explained to the media after leaving the court.
Ashraf Jadouiattorney of characterized, He assured that there are guarantees that his client will attend the hearings and explained that the next day of the trial will be held on June 13, a time given by the judges to allow the defense to prepare their arguments and because two to the accused on provisional release They did not receive the call.
Bioui’s lawyer, Mohamed Kerroutjustified his request for freedom because his client, who is also a businessman in the real estate sector, has commitments to Moroccoresponsibilities and people in charge.
The case is directed against about thirty people, most of whom are in preventive detention and among them are personalities from the Moroccan sports and political elite.
According to the police summary where he had access EFEThis drug trafficking network exported 200 tons of hashish since the beginning of its activity in 2006 until Spain, Algeria, Libya, Niger and Egyptamong other countries, and accumulated millions of euros, which were laundered in various ways.
Too much Bioui as Characterized -former parliamentarian and leader of one of the most successful clubs in Morocco and the best in Africa- belongs to the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), which is part of the government coalition of Morocco. In this case, police officers, gendarmes, notaries and businessmen are being investigated.
The two politicians and businessmen have been in preventive detention since December 25, when the Prosecutor’s Office confirmed their charges for the crimes of drug trafficking, forgery, money laundering and blackmail, among others.
The defendants in the case were charged with the crimes of “complicity in drug trafficking, transportation and export”, corruption, falsification of official documents and “commission of an arbitrary act that violates personal and individual freedom.”
They are also charged with “facilitating the exit and entry of Moroccans from Moroccan territory in an ordinary manner within the framework of a criminal network” and “concealing the illicit origin of assets arising from criminal activity “, among other charges.
The case erupted when a notorious Malian-Moroccan drug kingpin, named Ahmed Benbrahim -dubbed ‘Escobar of the Sahara’ and ‘Maliense’-, some personalities were denounced for the “illegal allocation” of their properties in the Maghreb country.
This drug trafficker was arrested in 2019 at Casablanca airport and later sentenced to 10 years in prison for drug trafficking.
Starting in 2021, the ‘Malian’ filed several complaints from prison against Bioui, saying that he had appropriated money and property that belonged to him, and then accused him before the police of being part of his drug trafficking network.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
