Moroccan Officials Implicated in Drug Trafficker’s Car Import Scheme

The drug trafficker is said to have imported Chinese cars and trucks to Morocco for sale and to have sought the help of Saïd Naciri and Abdenbi Bioui to obtain all the necessary authorizations to launch his business. As a service, he is said to have offered Naciri 6 new Chinese GONOW brand cars, which the latter parked in a villa in California. But having failed to obtain these certificates for the trafficker, he is said to have asked his driver to move the vehicles to the parking lot of the Benjelloun sports complex belonging to Wydad Casablanca, of which he is the president. During his interrogation, Naciri denied having moved the cars, despite the testimonies of the complex’s employees, according to sources close to the case.

As for the Chinese trucks, Bioui is said to have bought three units from Benbrahim, but did not carry out the formalities to transfer ownership to his name. As a result, they continue to belong to Benbrahim’s company, the same sources say, adding that the trucks were transferred from Rabat to Oujda under the supervision of Saïd Naciri to be used in a stone quarry in the city, until the certificates of conformity were obtained, according to the agreement concluded with the trafficker. But in 2016, Bioui is said to have used these trucks to transport 40 tons of drugs, which were intercepted and seized on the highway near El Jadida.

After investigation, the agents discovered that the trucks transporting the drugs were registered in the name of the trafficker’s company. This is how an arrest warrant was issued against him. According to the same sources, on his release from prison in Mauritania, the trafficker Benbrahim is said to have contacted Bioui to reproach him for using the trucks to transport drugs. But the latter reassured him that the situation was under control. But "Desert Escobar" was arrested as soon as he arrived at Mohammed V airport, then sentenced to 10 years in prison.