“Sahara Escobar” Scandal Widens as Testimony Implicates Moroccan Officials
Moroccan media reports have revealed that El Hadj Ahmed Ben Ibrahim, the primary suspect in the international drug trafficking investigation dubbed by the media as the “Sahara Escobar” case, has provided new testimony implicating other figures within the Moroccan regime in this cross-border scandal whose details were first exposed by the international press.
The reports emphasized that Zaki prison in Salé has recently witnessed a remarkable security and judicial alert following a long hearing session for the main defendant on the recent complaint he filed with Rabat’s judicial authorities, regarding new information implicating influential figures from the Moroccan regim’s political, financial, and business circles, and even naming “specific individuals.” The report further underscored that after the investigation session records have been referred to the competent public prosecutor’s office, judicial proceedings could potentially follow, extending to other parties suspected of being involved in the case.
Exposed in late 2023, the “Sahara Escobar” case is led by El Hadj Ahmed Ben Ibrahim, who owned an extensive network of contacts with senior Morocan regime officials, including major political and security figures, as well as businessmen and sports officials.
Names of ministers in the current Moroccan government were also cited during hearings, including Justice Minister Abdellatif Ouahbi and Minister of Youth, Culture and Communication Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid.
The hearings of the case, which was initiated under international pressure, revealed “a collusion within the Moroccan army along the borders to facilitate drug smuggling into Algeria, with Moroccan military figures receiving bribes to allow the smuggling of more than 200 tonnes of cannabis on behalf of former parliamentarian, politician, and businessman, Abdenbi Bioui, over a period of nearly two decades.” Spanish media reports highlighted the involvement of influential Moroccan regime figures in narcotics trafficking and smuggling, with the intelligence services overseeing the operation, whose proceeds serve the regime’s expansionist ambitions and its efforts to destabilize the region.
Other media reports affirmed that “the Sahara Escobar” is a creation of the Moroccan regime, who turned him from a shepherd into a car dealer, and then into a drug baron and cocaine trafficking kingpin, highlighting that he continued to have the protection of the regime even against Interpol arrest warrants issued in his name.
Observers of the scandal, which documents the Moroccan regime’s role in flooding the world with tons of drugs, described the ongoing trials as “show trials,” noting that the court opened the file under directives from the top after the international press exposed the details of this intercontinental scandal, particularly given the presence of international arrest warrants in the case.
