Defense Seeks Acquittal in Morocco-Belgium Drug Trafficking Case

"Because there were telephone contacts, dating back to January and February 2018, between M.J. and the driver of the truck in which cannabis was found on September 24, 2018, so eight months later, does that mean that M.J. is involved in drug trafficking?" asked lawyer Jean-Philippe Mayence. Along with his colleague, Nathalie Gallant, they pleaded, on Friday, before the Brussels Criminal Court, for the acquittal of their client, M.J., due to lack of evidence of any possible guilt, both for drug trafficking and for hostage-taking, reports Belga.

The federal prosecutor requested 10 years in prison against the defendant. "We throw years of prison like that and it doesn’t seem to shock anyone," Jean-Philippe Mayence indignantly said. The defense is outraged by the non-appearance of the truck driver. The latter has been referred to the French justice system, and the defense will not be able to question him.

In addition to M.J., thirteen other people are being prosecuted in this case for international drug trafficking. They are suspected of having formed a criminal organization whose activity consists in transporting drugs from Morocco to Spain and then to Belgium, under cover, among other things, of a fictitious fruit and vegetable company based in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode. Some of them are also to be tried for hostage-taking with torture, committed in a villa in Marbella, on the Costa del Sol in Spain, on the night of April 1 to 2, 2019.

The verdict will be handed down on January 14.