Spanish Authorities on Alert as Moroccan Drug Cartel ’Mocro Maffia’ Expands Operations

The Mocro Maffia, the Moroccan mafia active in the Netherlands and Belgium, and specialized in drug trafficking and organized crime, has been trying to settle in Spain for a few years. Karim Bouyakhrichan, one of the barons of this network, arrested in Marbella, then released on the orders of the Malaga court, fled Spain at the end of April while awaiting extradition to the Netherlands. Of Moroccan origin, the criminal, accused of having threatened to death the Dutch Princess Amalia, would be involved in several murders and settling of scores that have occurred in recent years on the Costa del Sol, reports El Debate.

In the wake of this, the Mossos d’Esquadra managed to prevent the introduction in Tarragona of four tons of hashish transported by members of the Mocro Maffia in a narco-submarine, the new means used by criminal networks in the Strait of Gibraltar. In addition to the Moroccan mafia, the Sinaloa cartel is trying to expand its influence in Spain. In mid-May, the police seized 1,800 kilos of methamphetamine stored by the Mexican network in warehouses in Valencia and Alicante.

The Albanian mafia, which controls the cocaine traffic in Europe, is also trying to establish itself in Spain, and more precisely in Galicia. But the Spanish security forces have managed to thwart all the attempts of these criminal networks that have set their sights on the Spanish coasts to escape the police pressure in the Strait of Gibraltar. Even if these networks have different origins and methods, some Spanish police officers fear settling of scores between them. "It’s not excluded, even if it hasn’t happened yet."