France Expands Drug Trafficking Crackdown to Dubai and Caribbean

In France, the fight against drug trafficking is taking on a new dimension. The French Minister of Justice has created two positions of liaison magistrates in Dubai and the Caribbean, in order to more easily trace the drug trafficking networks, reports CNews. In other words, it is a question of "going to get the sponsors and the heads of networks where they are", indicated the prosecutor of Marseille during a press conference devoted to the 2023 assessment of narcotic murders and narco-banditry. Éric Dupond-Moretti "has created a position of liaison magistrate in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) which should facilitate the work, and another in Saint Lucia, an island state located south of Martinique, which should be in charge of the Caribbean islands", he specified.

The two magistrates are expected to take up their positions "imminently", assures Nicolas Bessone, without however providing details on the date. "We are counting on international cooperation to go get the perpetrators where they are," often abroad, he further specified. The difficult extradition of drug traffickers wanted in France and arrested in Dubai and the release by the Emirati justice system of some are pushing France to change its strategy. To date, only Hakim Berrebouh and Moufide Bouchibi have been extradited to the hexagon, it is specified.

Like France, Belgium is also facing the same problem. A Dubai court had rejected three extradition requests for the Belgian-Moroccan Nordin El Hajjioui alias "Dikke Nordin" to Belgium.