Fishing Industry Rocked: Massive Currency Smuggling and Illegal Net Trafficking Scheme Exposed

Scandal in the maritime fishing sector. It all started with a conflict between associates of a fishing company who noticed regular trips to Spain of a newly acquired fishing vessel for maintenance operations. The exorbitant costs of these operations, amounting to hundreds of thousands of euros, prompted them to conduct their own investigations, uncovering a well-established dual fraud system.

In collusion with a foreign company, the accused parties established false invoices transmitted to the Foreign Exchange Office, on which they inflated the maintenance costs of the vessels, paving the way for currency trafficking. They paid a small portion of the amounts to the maintenance company, and the larger part was transferred to bank accounts in Spain and other European countries.

The parties involved also took advantage of these trips to illegally introduce nets prohibited by Moroccan regulations, according to Assabah. These traffickers have made significant profits from the sale of this equipment, sold at around 250 dirhams per kilo to small shipowners, traditional fishermen and practitioners of illegal fishing. In total, they would have managed to sell several tons of these nets that threaten marine biodiversity.

An investigation has been opened following the complaints of the associates. Entrusted to the National Brigade of the Judicial Police, it will determine the ins and outs of this case.