Morocco Drug Bust: Lawmakers Among 20 Detained in ’Desert Escobar’ Case

Among the detainees are political leaders (parliamentarians) and local officials. Another person has been placed under judicial supervision. This operation is part of a series of investigations conducted by the National Brigade of the Judicial Police, aimed at dismantling a network involving a Malian already convicted for similar acts in 2019.

The investigations carried out by the police revealed the extent of the offenses, ranging from possession and distribution of drugs to corruption and document forgery, drug commercialization in various forms of corruption and violations of individual freedoms. At the end of these in-depth investigations, 25 people were referred to the public prosecutor.

The Attorney General of the King near the Court of Appeal of Casablanca pointed out that given the complexity of these acts and the intertwining of their ramifications, the investigations took the necessary time, in full compliance with the relevant legal provisions and under the direct supervision of this public prosecutor’s office.

After their preliminary interrogation, the press release specified, the investigating judge decided to incarcerate twenty of them and place another under judicial supervision, while the public prosecutor’s office instructed the competent judicial police to continue the investigations against the four other persons in order to elucidate certain aspects of the facts related to this case, stressing that once the ordered investigations are completed, the public prosecutor’s office will also work to take the necessary measures against them.