French Narcotics Office: Moroccan Ties Prominent Among Top Drug Traffickers

The Narcotics Office classifies drug traffickers according to well-defined criteria: involvement in settling scores, ability to project abroad, to corrupt public officials, police, customs, logistics, use of concealment technologies, etc., reports L’Obs. Most of the biggest drug traffickers are Moroccans, Franco-Moroccans or people who have transited through Morocco.

Moufide Bouchibi, 41, is the first trafficker on this reconstituted list from police, judicial and documentary sources. He is considered the main importer of cannabis in France. On the run in Morocco in 2012, he was arrested in Dubai. He will be extradited to France where he will serve a 20-year prison sentence. Nicknamed "Mourad de Poissy", Reda Abakrim, 38, comes in second place. On the run since 2007, he was arrested on December 22 at Casablanca airport after getting off a plane from Dubai. He was using a false identity. Nordine D., for his part, would navigate between Spain, Morocco, Algeria and Dubai. Police sources report that he would have recovered part of the clientele of Djamel Talhi, known as "James Dean", a former associate of Sofiane Hambli who became the number 2 of the traffic behind Moufide Bouchibi before being arrested in 2014.

A high-flying trafficker, "Ben de Trappes" would have imported large quantities of cannabis to Denmark via camper vans. In 2018, he had been arrested in France for a case of identity theft. He would be on the run in Morocco. Nicknamed "Bouch de Dreux", Bouchaïb El Kacimi is considered the head of a vast network for importing cannabis resin. This Franco-Moroccan was sentenced to 20 years in prison. To his credit, 45 go-fasts organized from Spain in 14 months to import 50 tons of cannabis.

A trafficker close to Moufide Bouchibi is also on the list. Rachid El M., 45, one of the main cannabis suppliers in eastern France, would have privileged contacts with Moroccan producers. Sentenced to a seven-year prison term in 2017, he is on the run. Nicknamed "the Twins", Nasserdine and Abdelrani T., 43, would supply the Marseille region with cannabis resin. These two brothers would have been settled for a long time in the Malaga region, in southern Spain.

Franco-Moroccan born in Meknes, Younès L., 40, is considered the main supplier of cannabis resin in the Grand West. No conviction for drug trafficking. Ali and Messaoud Bouchareb, 50 and 41, close the podium. In 2018, Ali had received an 18-year prison sentence in the "Air Cocaine" case. On the run for more than 10 years, his brother Messaoud was arrested in December. He was about to reach France via Spain to see his family.