Rabat - Moroccan forces conducted largest and most dangerous anti-drug trafficking operations in the nation’s history in the waters adjacent to the desert city of Dakhla on Sunday, according to the Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations (BCIJ).
Rabat – Moroccan forces conducted largest and most dangerous anti-drug trafficking operations in the nation’s history in the waters adjacent to the desert city of Dakhla on Sunday, according to the Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations (BCIJ).
Moroccan security forces confiscated one ton and 230 kg worth over $200 million. According to the same source, the traffickers threw two tons and 575 kilograms at sea before they were arrested by Morocco’s security forces.
Morocco’s Channel 1 aired images of the operation, carried out by the Marine wing of the Royal Gendarmerie and the Royal Marines, charged with defending the kingdom’s water resources.
Intelligence information obtained by the BCIJ alerted security forces that a cargo of cocaine from Latin America was on its way to Moroccan shores. Both marine forces deployed air and water vessels in the direction of the drug shipment. Around 200 kilometers off the shores of Dakhla, they found a fishing boat carrying the illicit cargo.
A helicopter from the gendarmerie closed in on the boat, which had been manned by a small crew that surrendered after several rounds of live fire from the helicopter. The boat was then escorted to Dakhla for further investigation into the identity of the owner of the vessel.
In the past, drug operations in Morocco have been linked to the separatist Polisario Front – known to traffic illicit substances in the Sahel and Saharan regions.
The most recent operation in the Atlantic Ocean further reveals the international nature of the drug trade in North Africa and Morocco, specifically.
In June, reports surfaced that the Indian police had been on the lookout for an Indian-born Moroccan national named Romil Bhai who had worked to establish supply routes into Morocco with local cartels.
The kingdom is committed to fighting drug production and trafficking, according to Omar Hilale, who is the Moroccan ambassador to the United Nations, and dozens of other senior-level officials.
