The Public Prosecutor of the Casablanca Court of Appeal announced in a press release the launch of an investigation following the dissemination of disinformation alleging the involvement of public national figures and institutions in Morocco in an international drug trafficking operation known as the “Sahara Escobar” case.
The origins of the investigation began when individuals disseminated content on numerous social media platforms alleging the involvement in the operation of national Moroccan institutions and various public officials, which resulted in the arrest and interrogation of 25 individuals including members of Parliament, leaders of local municipalities, and law enforcement agents.
20 out of the original 25 individuals who appeared before the public prosecutor are currently in prison.
The prosecutor stated in the release that he had previously published the preliminary findings of the Sahara Escobar investigation in a press release on December 24, 2023, in compliance with constitutional provisions relating to access to information, and had revealed the number of people suspected in the case presently being investigated by the examining magistrate, in response to a request from the Public Prosecutor’s Office for information about the nature of the charges.
The public prosecutor asserted that any other information circulating in media or social media is inaccurate misinformation, suggesting that the accusations against the implicated people and institutions are “baseless.”
The prosecutor also cautioned authors against disseminating false information, warning of potential legal action for defamation and reputational damage.
The National Judicial Police Brigade (BNPJ) is in charge of the ongoing separate inquiry into the dissemination of false information, upon the conclusion of which, appropriate legal action will be taken, according to the prosecutor.
Two people–Said Naciri, President of Wydad and a member of the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), and Abdenabi Bioui, President of the Eastern Regional Council–have been arrested for drug trafficking, money laundering, and power abuse.
Among the 25 suspects are politicians, sports officials, law enforcement personnel, notaries, and a fashion designer.
The head of the drug trafficking network is said to be El Hadj Ahmed Ben Ibrahim, aka “the Malian” or “the Sahara Escobar,” who was captured by Moroccan authorities in 2019 and sentenced to more than ten years in prison at El Jadida. He is one of the wealthiest and most prolific drug lords in Africa. He has been linked to money laundering relating to his ownership of vast swaths of real estate in all of the territories in which he had been operating.