Notorious Moroccan Drug Lord "Pablo Escobar of the North" Released After 22 Years

Mounir Erramach, 51, is no longer behind bars. According to an informed source speaking on condition of anonymity, the Moroccan drug baron was released on Thursday after 22 years in prison. Prosecuted before the Special Court of Justice (CSJ) for international drug trafficking, criminal gang formation, possession of firearms, corruption, he who had gone from a simple cigarette seller to the biggest drug trafficker in Tétouan a year after the capture of another former drug trafficker, Hmidou Dib, in 1996, had been sentenced in December 2002 to twenty years in prison. He also received a fine of 3.3 million dirhams to be paid to the Customs Administration.

Erramach had been arrested in 2002. During his trial, 30 other individuals including judges, members of the gendarmerie, police and customs were the subject of deprivation of liberty judgments. They had received sentences ranging from 8 months in prison to life imprisonment.