Drug Trafficking Suspect Sentenced After 5-Year Flight to Morocco

After nearly 5 years on the run, Miloud T. surrendered to the police last March and was incarcerated, reports La République du centre. On Tuesday, he was tried before the Orléans judicial court. He is cited in a drug trafficking case. The facts he is accused of date back to 2017. During the searches carried out in the spring, but also on October 2, 1200 kilos of cannabis and 800 grams of cocaine had been seized. The next day, Miloud fled to Morocco. "I went to the engagement party of a cousin, who had insisted," he assures from the stand. This explanation is far from convincing the president of the court Elsa David. "By leaving your family, including your premature baby?" she asks him. "He was going to the hospital regularly, my family could not come," he replies. "And why didn’t you come back afterwards?" the president of the court continues. "My account was blocked by the police, I heard they wanted to pin a drug case on me. I panicked, I was afraid of prison," the defendant explains further.

The day after his departure, the police conducted a search of his home and found 410 euros and 95 grams of cannabis. His bank assets amounted to 16,000 euros. In addition, Miloud "was seen five times in the company of another protagonist in the case," sentenced in 2019 like others to sentences of up to ten years in prison and 100,000 euros in fines. The defendant justifies his presence by the fact that he had met him to obtain his personal consumption. Without formal proof, prosecutor Christian Magret demands three years in prison and continued detention for criminal conspiracy. "We don’t have enough elements to say he is the head of the network, but enough for criminal conspiracy, because he is always in the right place at the right time," he argues. "A judge does not write a story, but the public prosecutor has done so," argues Miloud’s lawyer.

The court renders its verdict: the defendant is sentenced to two years in prison, to continued detention and to the confiscation of 16,000 euros, the "savings" made, as he was living with his mother "for the facts subsequent to May 2017".