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Poissy: end of 13 years on the run for "Turbo", the baron of cannabis, arrested in Morocco

2021-01-08T05:29:25.611Z


Reda Abakrim was arrested at the end of December 2020 in Casablanca. He is suspected of having executed a member of his network in Poissy in 2007. This


More than thirteen years after the assassination of Brahim Hajaji in the city of La Coudraie de Poissy (Yvelines), the main suspect was finally betrayed by the tips of his fingers.

Reda Abakrim, who became one of the two biggest barons in the export of cannabis from Morocco to France, fell, at the end of December 2020 in Casablanca, into the hands of the local police.

This trafficker from Yvelines, who appears on the "short list" of the main objectives of the anti-narcotics office (Ofast), is suspected of having murdered Brahim Hajaji, 26, with two other accomplices, on June 17, 2007 in Poissy.

For what amounts to a settling of scores between traffickers, Abakrim, nicknamed "Turbo", was sentenced in his absence, last June by the Assize Court, to a 21-year prison sentence.

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According to our information, wanted and on the run since the facts, the high-flying narcotics trader was arrested on December 22 at Mohammed-V airport from Dubai.

He chose the VIP exit to go through control.

After checking his fingerprints, a border police official discovered the traveler had several false passports and was wanted for murder by Interpol and the Versailles Court of Appeal.

This 38-year-old man still has a strong image in the neighborhoods of Poissy.

"For many young people dealing with points of deal, he is the figure of success in the career of drug trafficker", assures an informant on condition of anonymity.

"Turbo" grew up in La Coudraie, a horseshoe-shaped district, located at the entrance of this medium-sized city of Yvelines.

“His father worked as a worker at the Peugeot factory in the town.

Reda was raised there with his two brothers and his sister, specifies a former local who thinks about him behind the wheel of his green 407.

When the father saw how things were going, he bought a house in Les Mureaux to get away from the city.

"

He wanted to be a millionaire at 18

Waste of time, Reda has already blazed a trail towards crime and easy money.

He fell young in traffic.

“At 13, he was already dealing at the entrance to La Coudraie, remembers a local resident.

Then, he made passages of cannabis resin between Spain and France.

He was very smart and individualistic.

He wanted to succeed and said that at 18, he must have his first million euros in his pocket.

And he got there, it's crazy.

He even celebrated it.

"

Poissy (Yvelines), in January 2010. Reda Abakrim, who grew up in La Coudraie, fell into drug trafficking at a very young age (Illustration).

LP / Maxime Fieschi  

The young man climbed the ranks of the traffic hierarchy.

He embarked on importation and set up "go fast", these rapid convoys which transport drugs, hence its nickname Turbo, which allowed him to bring up 250 to 500 kg of cannabis per trip.

"He rose to the level of caïd of La Coudraie," said a former narcotics officer.

He was only seen there very rarely.

He lived in Paris and simply came when there was a problem to be resolved.

In the city, Bilel, his main lieutenant, was in charge of the traffic.

"

At the time, La Coudraie was above all a hub that supplied cannabis to districts of Val-d'Oise and Paris.

“That's when we nicknamed him

Turbo

, because he was able to get a ton of cannabis resin out of Morocco per day,” says our informant.

Suspected of being involved in the abduction of a child

Reda is also a violent young man.

"He did not like being stepped on his toes," blows this town resident.

He made his first appearance in the police archives at the age of 12 for a fire, then for theft, violence, threat, extortion ...

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In 2003, he was suspected of being involved in the kidnapping of a 9-year-old child in Dijon (Côte-d'Or).

The little boy had been surprised in the street while going to school with his sister.

He will be held for several days in an empty apartment in La Coudraie before being released by the police.

The kidnappers of the city thus intended to force his father to repay them a debt related to narcotics in the amount of 60,000 euros.

If for the police, the implication of "Turbo" is hardly in doubt, he will never be condemned for this affair.

His criminal record gives little indication of the true dimension of Abakrim's criminal personality.

He has six convictions for "aggravated theft, contempt and refusal to comply" ... But none for infringement of the legislation on narcotics.

The drugs hidden in the trunks of cars mounted on tow trucks

On June 25, 2007, the situation becomes hot for the wholesaler of Yvelines when the disappearance of Brahim is reported by one of his friends.

Rumor has it that this boy, who drove for Abakrim on "go fast", allegedly stole between 500 and 600 kg of cannabis, which represents a market value of around four million euros.

The police are carrying out research.

"Turbo" is no longer at Les Mureaux.

He would have settled in Vésinet, then in Fontenay-aux-Roses (Hauts-de-Seine) before disappearing in nature.

A little later, investigators discovered that one of his accomplices was arrested in Belgium with 500 kg of resin.

Another man, who could well be "Turbo", managed to escape the officials during this operation.

In July 2007, Abakrim took refuge in Morocco and continued to export tons of drugs to France.

Investigators discover that he conceals the resin in the trunks of cars that are mounted on tow trucks.

French investigators also learn that he would have bought inflatable boats to bring his goods through the Mediterranean Sea to reach Spain.

The French police lose track of the man who, cautiously, lives under false identities.

He struts in Rolls in Dubai

During the past thirteen years, and despite his runaway, the importer has become one of the biggest contributors to cannabis trafficking.

“In Morocco, he lived in a villa with bodyguards.

His name still circulates today throughout the Paris region and perhaps even throughout France as the person to meet if we want to import resin ”, assures our district informant.

Abakrim gets married and lives in Dubai, he drives a Rolls-Royce, that's the high life.

Some lend him stays in Venezuela, land of cocaine exports.

And others believe they know that he sometimes returns to France with false papers.

"He is no longer in contact with the products," specifies a gendarme.

At this level, these criminals play on their relationships to put in contact different actors in the sector and collect their commission.

"

Poissy (Yvelines), in January 2010. It is in this hole that the body of Brahim Hajaji was discovered by the police.  

It was in January 2010 that the investigation into the disappearance of Brahim experienced a rebound.

Bilel, his former lieutenant, under pressure, reveals to the police the place where Brahim was buried.

Investigators from the Versailles PJ criminal squad unearth a decaying body in a wood near La Coudraie.

It is indeed Brahim Hajaji.

The autopsy established that he was executed from three 7.65 caliber bullets fired in the pelvis and in the head.

The dealer gives three names, Mohamed A., Reda Abakrim and Karim B. with whom he was on the day of Brahim's assassination.

His lawyer, Me Dupond-Moretti, had pleaded acquittal at trial

The ex-lieutenant of Abakrim is indicted, just like Mohamed, arrested six months later in Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône).

The latter assures that he only led the victim to La Coudraie and accuses Bilel of being the killer.

The only two suspects arrested will flee immediately after their release.

Subsequently, the informant, who says he is threatened, will send from Algeria, where he is hiding, letters and videos to investigators and the examining magistrate.

This man, considered unstable and questionable, will deliver contradictory versions on the death of Brahim and on the author of the fatal shots.

However, in June 2020, Abakrim, Bilel and Mohammed, tried in their absence, because all on the run, were sentenced to 21 years in prison.

The fourth accused was acquitted.

During the trial, Abakrim's lawyer, Me Eric Dupond-Moretti, the current Minister of Justice, pleaded for acquittal, believing that the police informant was an unreliable man and that the evidence gathered against "Turbo" were insufficient to convict him of assassination.

With his arrest in Morocco, a new legal fight begins.

The Versailles Court of Appeal issued an arrest warrant against the trafficker.

"The family of Brahim Hajaji asks that he be tried in France", indicates the counsel for the civil party, Me Isabelle Felenbok.

But there remains a certain vagueness on the judicial future of the drug lord.

According to our information, French justice has been informed that the trafficker would have been officially arrested on the basis of an offense committed in Morocco: the use of a false passport, before being imprisoned.

"And as he has Moroccan nationality, he will probably never be extradited to France," predicts a magistrate.

Source: leparis

All news articles on 2021-01-08

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