Wine Smuggling Kingpin Faces Billion-Dollar Fine and Criminal Charges in Morocco

The calculation of the penalties could take several months, estimates the daily Assabah, especially since the one called Ouled Lekhribgui had been handling large quantities of adulterated and smuggled alcohol for years.

The operation is all the more complex, adds the newspaper, as the suspect had dragged in his wake many tourist establishments and nightclubs throughout the kingdom. Ouled Lekhribgui faces heavy criminal penalties, and the compensation claimed by customs could exceed one billion dirhams.

For now, the national customs brigade, a rapid intervention unit, is not idle, and is trying to locate new distribution circuits and warehouses that the "emperor of wine" used to liquidate his merchandise. And it’s far from an easy task.

Smuggled alcohol is usually transported by road, from the Mauritanian ports, specifies the media. Traffickers are nevertheless ingenious in finding new circuits that still escape the radar of customs.