Major French Drug Kingpin ’Coluche’ Arrested in Morocco, Awaits Extradition

At the request of the French justice system, the Moroccan authorities arrested on February 14 in Marrakech Mohamed Amine Y. alias "Coluche" or "DZ", a 36-year-old man described as a "major drug trafficker" and originally from Argenteuil (Val-d’Oise), reports BFMTV, adding that he "lived in high style" in the ochre city for several months. He was the subject of a European arrest warrant issued in March 2023 against him by an investigating judge of the Pontoise judicial court, as well as an Interpol red notice.

The judges of the Pontoise court had sentenced "Coluche" in absentia to eight and then five years in prison in October and December 2023, in particular for his involvement in a case of importing a ton of cannabis pollen. "This trafficker had already been convicted in July 2011 for drug trafficking offenses. He is suspected of having laundered part of his earnings through the purchase of real estate in his hometown of Argenteuil," explains an official. "DZ" will soon be extradited to France where he will have to be retried in these two cases.