Rabat – The trial of dozens of suspects allegedly linked to the notorious “Sahara Escobar” case will begin on Thursday, May 23.
The Casablanca Court of Appeal set the date for the start of the trial, involving influential politicians, including MPs Said Naciri and Abdenbi Biioui.
In a report earlier today, Le360 quotes judicial sources as saying that the trial will commence on Thursday and will involve a total of 25 defendants, including 20 who are being prosecuted in a state of arrest.
Biioui, who is the former president of the Oriental Regional Council, is facing several charges, including “forgery of public documents,” “extortion of funds,” as well as falsification and“participation in agreement aimed at the possession, export, and marketing of drugs.”
The charges are among several other felonies like “receiving stolen goods, use of forged public documents,” and complicity and attempted exportation of narcotics without authorization from competent authorities,” the Le 360 report added.
Naciri, the former president of the popular Casablanca-based football club Wydad, is facing, among other charges, “forgery of public documents with the use of forged documents,” “fraud,” “forgery and use of forged documents,” “possession of objects obtained through crimes,” and “manipulation and falsification of checks.”
The charges also include “attempted exportation and marketing of drugs without authorization,” “import of foreign currency without authorization from competent authorities,” as well as “facilitation of drug use and participation in an agreement for the possession, transportation, and marketing of drugs.”
In December 2023, police arrested Naciri and Biioui, who are also two influential members of the center-left Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), for their alleged links to the “Desert Escobar” dossier.
The name refers to the infamous case of drug lord El Hadj Ahmed ben Ibrahim, commonly known by his name “the Desert Escobar,” who was arrested in 2019 at Casablanca’s international airport by Morocco’s judicial police.
In January, the attorney general at the Casablanca Court of Appeal said in a statement in December that the investigating judge had decided to put 20 people in jail following the preliminary interrogation.
A total of 25 suspects had been presented before the public prosecutor in connection with the desert Escobar case.
