Morocco France drug trafficking network busted Bayonne court

Before the magistrates, the defendants vied with each other in offering improbable justifications to minimize their involvement. Between the one who claimed to be making "a little profit, like football players," and another asserting "I was transporting tomatoes," denials were numerous. Only a former 30-year-old soldier from the Landes acknowledged the facts, while police found 180,000 euros buried in his garden.

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The court finally handed down sentences on Tuesday, June 2, ranging from one year suspended to six and a half years in prison for the main organizer. The latter, a 34-year-old from Dax, was remanded in custody. While the charge of criminal association was dismissed for all and a garage owner was acquitted, four remand orders and ten-year territorial bans for foreigners were imposed.

These convictions settle far-reaching investigations conducted between 2023 and 2024 by the Bayonne Anti-Drug Office, as reported by SudOuest. Using geolocation devices and wiretaps, police traced around thirty cocaine and cannabis convoys. Meetings to organize this illicit trade took place in car parks of shopping centers in the Basque Country.

The network relied on well-oiled logistics. Two Moroccan brothers aged 37 and 48, based in Spain, managed imports and secured routes with a scout car. They were arrested in Catalonia with 100 kilos of drugs, while the merchandise was then distributed in the Landes and the Bordeaux region.

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During this extraordinary hearing bringing together nine defendants and seven lawyers, the defense argued for a case without real organization, instead evoking small individual trafficking. A vision completely rejected by the prosecutor, who had requested sentences ranging from eight months to seven years in prison.