Moroccan Trafficking Ring Busted: Five Arrested for Exploiting Migrant Workers in France

It all started with a complaint filed at the end of 2023 by four Moroccan individuals against their employer for non-payment of their 2022 salaries. They were hired in Morocco in exchange for the payment to the employer of a few thousand euros. They were promised well-paid work in France, transportation and housing. An investigation was then opened. The company manager is suspected of organizing human trafficking between France and Morocco. Suspicion confirmed by the investigations carried out by the soldiers of the autonomous territorial brigade and the research brigade of Langon-Toulenne.

On May 27, 2024, the gendarmes carried out a judicial operation in the Marmandais and Réolais, in the Monségur area (Gironde) and discovered that several employees in the vineyards were not regularly paid and that about fifteen employees were living in unworthy conditions in several housing units. Among the victims of this trafficking are three Moroccans in an irregular situation. The investigators managed to dismantle this human trafficking network. They arrested five individuals, originally from Morocco, from the same family: two brothers aged 58 and 44, their spouses, and the son of one of the brothers, aged 28.

After their arrest, the suspects were taken into custody. During their questioning, they "half-acknowledged the facts and tried to minimize the seriousness of the situation," reports Républicain Sud-Gironde. After being presented before a magistrate of the Bordeaux public prosecutor’s office on May 29, 2024, three of the employers were placed in pre-trial detention, while two were placed under judicial supervision with a ban on leaving the national territory and contacting the victims. Their trial will open on June 10 before the criminal court.