Moroccan Police Commissioner Exonerated in High-Profile Drug Trafficking Case

Commissioner Mohamed Jelmad’s honor has finally been cleared. The Administrative Court of Appeal has overturned the decision to dismiss him from the national police force, reports Le Collimateur. A dismissal pronounced in 2010. Taking into account the court’s judgment, the Director General of National Security, Abdellatif Hammouchi, has reinstated the former district chief with the rank of general controller.

Mohamed Jelmad had helped dismantle several drug trafficking networks, including that of the trafficker Najib Zaimi in Nador, where he was district chief. But he had been accused of attempted corruption in the Zaimi case. In 2010, he was sentenced to 3 years in prison. In 2012, Najib Zaimi, for his part, received the death penalty for international drug trafficking, kidnapping and murder. Several members of his family, as well as gendarmes, auxiliary force elements, a military man, a caïd and other defendants were sentenced to prison terms.

Dissatisfied with the verdict, Mohamed Jelmad fought to clear his name. In 2019, the Casablanca Court of Appeal rendered a decision in his favor. The officer was acquitted of any involvement in the drug trafficking network.