Dubai to Extradite French-Tunisian Drug Trafficking Suspect Wanted in Murder Case
The United Arab Emirates has definitively approved the extradition of Ouicem Kattoursi, considered by France’s anti-narcotics office to be one of the country’s leading cocaine importers. Already arrested in Casablanca in 2008, the 44-year-old French-Tunisian is expected to be transferred in the coming days.
The decision became final on Tuesday evening, September 29, after the 12-day appeal period expired, Le Parisien reports. Originally from Sevran, in Seine-Saint-Denis, Kattoursi was a priority target for French authorities.
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His arrest in Dubai on June 19 revived an extradition process that had failed two years earlier. In 2023, he was arrested at the airport as he was preparing to leave for Tunisia. Emirati authorities nevertheless released him, finding the French case file incomplete.
He then went to Tunisia, leaving his family in the Emirates. According to the newspaper, he returned there at least three times before his latest arrest. This time, the French request was successful.
A flight from justice that took him through Casablanca
Kattoursi’s name has appeared in drug investigations since the mid-2000s. Convicted in absentia in Bobigny in 2008 for drug trafficking, he was arrested in Casablanca on December 31 that year.
The arrest warrant now underpinning his extradition was issued on February 1, 2023, by an investigating judge in Bobigny. It concerns murder committed by an organized group, attempted murder and criminal conspiracy. Kattoursi is notably suspected of ordering a settling of scores in La Courneuve in January 2017.
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His expected return comes amid increased cooperation between Paris and Abu Dhabi. According to Le Parisien, France has obtained 29 extraditions from the Emirates since Gérald Darmanin became justice minister in January 2025. For Kattoursi, the next step is his actual handover to the French authorities.