Drug Kingpin’s Decade-Long Reign Ends in Paris Traffic Jam

The information is confirmed by the Paris prosecutor’s office. Originally from the Cité de la Solidarité in Montrouge (Hauts-de-Seine), the accused was wanted for acts of kidnapping and drug trafficking. Described as "elusive" by the investigators, this trafficker is "quite independent", confides a police source to Le Parisien. Ameur Mansouri began his career in the drug trade in the 1990s, when he imported cannabis resin from Morocco. The forty-year-old gradually established himself as an essential player in the drug trafficking in the Île-de-France region, becoming the main supplier of several drug dealing points, particularly in the Hauts-de-Seine.

His first conviction to 5 years in prison in 2006 did not dampen his desire to prosper in the drug trade. Upon his release from prison, Ameur Mansouri became the leader of the network and strengthened his activities. In 2012, he decided to settle in Morocco to escape the police who were looking for him. From the kingdom, he continued to manage his Île-de-France business with a small team on site who was responsible for distributing the goods in Île-de-France and particularly in the Cité de la Solidarité in Montrouge where he grew up.

The criminal managed to run his trafficking from Morocco for more than 10 years, before deciding to return to France to settle some business and see his younger brother and sister, who were convicted for their involvement in a drug trafficking case. "He was in possession of fake identity papers, and when he came back, he stayed in hotels," explains a source close to the case. In the meantime, the French justice system has convicted him twice, in October 2017 and December 2023, to 9 and 15 years in prison respectively with arrest warrants.

After 13 years on the run, he was finally arrested on Thursday night by the BRI of Versailles, while he was stuck in traffic. "He was surrounded, pointed at and subdued. He was a good sport and did not resist," says a judicial source. The Moroccan criminal should be presented before a judge of the Paris prosecutor’s office for the execution of the two prison sentences he has to serve.