French Authorities Bust Major Moroccan Drug Ring Operating for Two Decades

This is the result of an investigation that lasted a year. The gendarmes began investigating a major Moroccan drug trafficking network. A network led for nearly 20 years by several members of a large family based in the Île-de-France region and in Lyon. About thirty brothers and half-brothers at the helm. They would be among the biggest drug importers in France.

Nicknamed "the Ostrich", Mohamed B., specialized in ostrich breeding in Morocco, is the best known member of this family. He had fled the kingdom after a 10-year prison sentence in 1998. He eventually turned his back on drug trafficking after receiving a heavy sentence in June 2010 for importing 42 tons of cannabis resin. His nephew Nassim B. and his half-brother take over. The former is considered the main relay in Lyon for the latter.

From importing cannabis in bulk from Morocco, they moved on to go-fast to bring up grass from Spain or cocaine from the Netherlands in March 2020. The lockdown imposed due to the Covid-19 epidemic and the closure of borders force them to do so. The half-brother of "the Ostrich" settles in Lyon after spending years in Malaga. The network is restructuring.

September 2020: arrest of a courier with a kilo of cocaine destined for Switzerland. On October 9, a go-fast is intercepted from Spain. The elements of the National Gendarmerie Intervention Group (GIGN) arrest two couriers with 67 kg of grass in Nîmes, reports Le Parisien. During a search of the half-brother of "the Ostrich" in Lyon, 31 kg of cocaine were seized. The gendarmes failed to apprehend the suspect and his nephew Nassim.

January 2021: new operation. It takes place in the neighborhoods of Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône), Toulon and La Seyne-sur-Mer (Var). In action, the gendarmes of the research sections of Lyon, Versailles and Marseille. They arrested several customers, suspected of having acquired large quantities of cocaine from the Lyon family. They will then be indicted. Informed of Nassim B.’s return, hidden in the Netherlands for several weeks, the same gendarmes manage to arrest him on March 23, along with two other people. As for his uncle, he is still on the run.