Speeding Stop Unravels €3 Million Drug Empire: Moroccan Brothers Jailed in Toulouse-Cantal Trafficking Case

A speeding violation that leads to the dismantling of a cannabis and cocaine trafficking network. While in December 2020, the gendarmes were about to stop a motorist for speeding, near Figeac, the driver had thrown a bundle of banknotes out the window. They discover 10,000 euros wrapped in plastic film in the vehicle and suspect a drug trafficking operation, thanks to the sniffer dogs. This is the beginning of a long investigation. The DNA found on the bag indicates a lead: a resident of Aurillac. The investigators go to his home and find several kilos of cannabis. His partner provides useful information to the gendarmes, which has allowed them to map out a structured trafficking network between Toulouse and Cantal.

The rest of the investigation proved fruitful: the gendarmes dismantled a cocaine and cannabis trafficking network led by three young Moroccans: the twin brothers Anes and Ilyas Touil, and their half-brother Yassir Ejjilali. The network’s activities are summarized as: "nearly 50 kilos of cocaine, 150 of cannabis, and constant back-and-forth between Toulouse and Aurillac - 76 trips recorded in a notebook". A cannabis and cocaine trafficking operation estimated at 3 million euros. Yassir Ejjilali would be the mastermind of the network. "From Morocco, he would have left the reins of the network to his younger siblings, in exchange for a percentage," AutoNews reports, adding that "the betrayal of one of them would have triggered a violent altercation in Toulouse." During the searches, the investigators seized the sum of 50,000 euros and drugs.

Tried before the Aurillac court on Tuesday, they were sentenced to up to seven years in prison.