Moroccan Gendarmes Arrested in Drug Trafficking Corruption Probe

A warrant officer of the Royal Gendarmerie, deputy chief of the motorcycle brigade operating on the Salé highway and four other gendarmes were arrested on suspicion of corruption linking them to a drug baron from Khémisset following telephone tapping, reports the Arabic daily Assabah. They are accused of having failed in their mission by contributing to the expansion of the drug baron’s activities. The latter had time to dominate the regional drug market and forge ties with other barons, particularly from the north of the country. Another recently retired gendarme would also be in the sights of the National Brigade of the Judicial Police (BNPJ).

On the orders of an investigating judge in charge of financial crimes at the Court of Appeal of Rabat, the warrant officer of the Royal Gendarmerie was placed in pre-trial detention in the Al Arjate 2 prison. In addition to the suspicions of corruption, he is also suspected of drug trafficking.