Algerian Court Sentences Drug Ring Members, Issues Warrant for Moroccan Trafficker

In addition to the prison sentences, the court issued an international arrest warrant against the Moroccan drug trafficker and an Algerian raï singer, Cheb Hicham, the main defendant, who are on the run. For his part, the public prosecutor demanded life imprisonment for all seven defendants prosecuted for drug trafficking and hard drug trafficking and belonging to a criminal drug trafficking network.

It all started with an investigation begun in February 2016 into a case of trafficking in psychotropic substances and cocaine extending from the wilaya of Aïn Témouchent to Oran. The national gendarmerie services had arrested an individual M.A. aged 37 on board a Renault Kangoo vehicle. During the search, the gendarmes found a quantity of 10,000 psychotropic pills and 1 kg of cocaine hidden in the vehicle’s engine.

According to the revelations of the accused, the cargo he was transporting had been handed over to him by a Moroccan drug baron in the Achaâcha region, a border town located in the west of the country. His mission was to deliver the goods to a raï singer, who was waiting for him in a cafeteria in the popular Gambetta district located in the east of the city of Oran. Subsequently, the investigators managed to arrest five individuals. At the bar, the five defendants denied the facts against them.