French Nationals Arrested in Marrakech Money Laundering and Drug Trafficking Bust

The investigating judge at the Marrakech Court of Appeal ordered that six of the eight defendants be detained in the Oudaya prison. The other two are being prosecuted on provisional release. The daily Al Massae reports that the eight defendants had previously been brought before the Attorney General of the King, who demanded several charges against them, including money laundering, the sale of contraband cigarettes, fraud and currency and drug trafficking.

The reasons that led to the dismantling of the network are multiple. Some sources suggest that the attempted theft committed on a Moroccan resident abroad (MRE) would be at the origin of such an operation. But for others, the arrest of the defendants took place after the investigations initiated by the police elements, following a dispute within the exchange office. The searches in the house of the exchange agent, who is also the owner of a tobacco shop, made it possible to discover a large quantity of contraband cigarette packs. Counterfeit packs that the defendant intended to resell on the market.

After the arrest of the exchange agent, the tongues did not take long to loosen. The daily Al Massae reports that one of the gang members who held a well-stocked bank account, admitted that the money came from the black market conversion of currencies at the aforementioned exchange agent. During a police raid on a villa, investigators seized 200,000 euros (nearly 2,160,000 dirhams) and arrested seven suspects involved in the attempted theft of the MRE.

The initial elements of the investigation have shown that this organized criminal gang has existed for many years and has managed to defraud and launder money thanks to the complicity of the owner of the exchange office. The alleged leader of the gang even admitted to being covered in his dirty work by very influential people. In addition to the four people of French origin, there are also two Malians, a Senegalese, all prosecuted for drug trafficking, specifies the same source.