Eight drug traffickers convicted in Bayonne over Morocco-Spain-France network
Bayonne court has delivered its verdict against eight members of a drugs network connecting Morocco, Spain and France. Sentences range up to six and a half years in prison.
Morocco-France drug network: sentences of up to six and a half years handed down in Bayonne
Bayonne court convicted eight people on Tuesday 2 June for their involvement in a large-scale drug trafficking network between Morocco, Spain and France, according to bladi.net. The sentences handed down range from a suspended one year to six and a half years in prison for the main organiser, a 34-year-old from Dax held in custody following the hearing.
Implausible justifications in court
Before the magistrates, several defendants attempted to minimise their role with explanations that were decidedly surprising. One claimed he was only making "a small profit, like football players", while another maintained that he "was transporting tomatoes". Only a former 30-year-old military serviceman from the Landes acknowledged the facts — investigators had found 180,000 euros buried in his garden.
A network dismantled after two years of investigation
The investigation, conducted between 2023 and 2024 by the Bayonne anti-drug office, made it possible to reconstruct around thirty cocaine and cannabis convoys, according to SudOuest. Investigators used geolocation devices and telephone tapping. The trafficking organisation meetings were held in car parks at shopping centres in the Basque Country.
The network's logistics were run by two Moroccan brothers, aged 37 and 48, based in Spain. They oversaw the imports and secured the routes using a scout vehicle. The two men were arrested in Catalonia with 100 kilogrammes of drugs in their possession. The goods were then distributed in the Landes and the Bordeaux region.
Four detention orders, one garage owner acquitted
The court handed down four detention orders and imposed ten-year bans from French territory on foreign defendants. The charge of criminal association was dropped against all the accused, and a garage owner was acquitted.
The hearing, which brought together nine defendants and seven lawyers, was of unusual scope. The defence argued the absence of any real organisation, presenting the facts as simple individual trafficking. The prosecutor rejected this interpretation and called for sentences ranging from eight months to seven years in prison.
Source: Google News MA