The Judicial Police services in Casablanca and Marrakech apprehended five individuals, including one from an Arab country, on Thursday on suspicion of their involvement in the possession and trafficking of 150,400 bottles of “nitrous oxide” gas, intended to be used for anesthesia, according to a security source.
The source said that the police apprehended the suspects during simultaneous security operations in Casablanca, Marrakech, and their suburbs.
Police caught the first suspect upon arrival in Casablanca in a utility vehicle carrying 18 boxes of “nitrous oxide” gas bottles allegedly for smuggling.
Police also arrested two other suspects in Casablanca for being involved in the distribution of psychoactive substances, as they were caught in possession of an additional 333 boxes of this narcotic gas.
The men arrested disclosed the whereabouts of more shipments hidden in a warehouse in the Droua area near Berrechid, where a substantial amount of the substance was discovered.
In total, 50,098 bottles of various sizes were seized in Casablanca.
Police caught the fourth and fifth suspects in Marrakech, who are an Arab country citizen and his assistant, possessing a total of 100,280 small vials and 22 large bottles of “nitrous oxide” gas, along with a considerable sum of money suspected to be from the sale of the substance.
The suspects were remanded into police custody pending further investigation, under the supervision of the public prosecutor’s office.