Pharmacist and Drug Trafficker Among 12 Sentenced in Moroccan "Karkoubi" Ring Bust

The pharmacist was sentenced to six years in prison with a fine of 500,000 dirhams. The same sentence was handed down against one of the biggest dealers in the region. The pharmacist’s sister was sentenced to three years in prison and a fine of 100,000 dirhams. The fourth defendant, described as an intermediary, was sentenced to four years in prison and a fine of 100,000 dirhams, reports the daily Assabah.

As for the other defendants who are mostly dealers, they were sentenced to various terms. These are Y.B. sentenced to one year in prison and a fine of 50,000 dirhams, Y.M. sentenced to one and a half years in prison and the same fine. F.A. and M.N. were each sentenced to three months in prison and a fine of 500 dirhams. A taxi driver, whose vehicle was used by the intermediary to transport the "karkoubi" tablets from the pharmacy to the dealers, was not spared by the court. He was sentenced to eight months in prison and a fine of 20,000 dirhams.

The court also acquitted an employee of a pharmaceutical distribution company, A.B., of all charges against him. The defendants are members of an organized criminal network composed of 12 members, including 3 women. They were prosecuted by the public prosecutor’s office under arrest for trafficking in tablets intended for psychiatric and neurological treatment, as well as the sale of tablets without a medical prescription. The defendants had also been prosecuted for identity theft, illegal practice of pharmacy, and possession of weapons without justification, among other charges.