The
Mocro Maffia
, the drug trafficking networks of Moroccan origin settled in European countries (mainly in the Netherlands), operate in a similar way to the Italian mafia, according to the National Police investigators who pursue them.
Different families can share money laundering networks and collaborate or declare war when there is betrayal or competition in “the business.”
Marriages between “their women” strengthen the ties between the clans, which meet – represented by men – periodically around lavish tables and large parties in Dubai, Amsterdam, Medellín or Marbella.
On August 28, 2014, in a store in the Monte Halcones shopping center in Benahavís, 22 kilometers from Marbella (Málaga), Samir Bouyakhricham, alias
Scarface
, 35 years old, was enjoying an evening with six other young heirs of well-known drug lords. of the drug.
Among those "second generation drug traffickers" were Koalid Jermouni, also a Dutchman of Maghreb origin, Mohamed Benali, El Laca's son,
known as the “king of cocaine” on the Costa del Sol until he was arrested in December 2017;
and the Chilean Richard Eduardo Riquelme Vega, alias
Rico
, considered the most dangerous criminal in his country.
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Around two in the morning, two hitmen approached Scarface, who was sitting in a swimsuit, flip-flops and T-shirt with his colleagues on the terrace of the All in 1 pub
,
and shot him in the back while he tried to run away. .
They finished him off with two shots to the head.
“A reckoning,” would be read in the press later.
Investigators believe that the murder was ordered by Ridouan Taghi,
public enemy number 1
in the Netherlands for being the leader of organized crime, known as the
Angel of Death
for his excessive violence and imprisoned in the Netherlands since 2022 after being extradited from Dubai. .
That meeting and subsequent point-blank execution confirmed the presence of important clans of the Mocro Maffia on the Costa del Sol and put the police on the trail of Karim Bouyakhricham, 50, nicknamed
Taxi
, who assumed command after the death of his brother and whose arrest was known last week.
The agents of the Special Response Group for Organized Crime (GRECO) of the National Police in Malaga, put handcuffs on him this December 17 around the courts, “willing to surrender in exchange for leaving his family in peace.” ”, point out research sources.
The Malaga police, together with the Crime and Organized Crime Unit (UDYCO) of Melilla, had been following him for five years.
His arrest marks the fall of another important clan of the Mocro Maffia.
The Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (UDEF) has intervened 172 properties associated with Taxi between Marbella and Melilla with an approximate value of 50 million euros, despite the fact that he lived discreetly, with a "low profile", and without calling the attention with great ostentation like his brother did.
After his murder, the first thing Karim did was close all the companies in the name of his brother Samir in Malaga: The wandering dutchman, buying and selling real estate on his own account and with an annual turnover between 500,000 and 1,000,000 ;
Roro trading Company SL, for the sale and rental of rural and developable land in Marbella, and Chesil beach SL, with the same corporate purpose as the previous one.
His organization continued to operate mainly from Marbella and Melilla.
Presumably, he brought huge quantities of cocaine into Europe from Colombia and Ecuador, through the Dutch ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam, “where he had the keys to many doors,” according to investigation sources.
If he moved to Melilla and Morocco, “he always took the longest route, to go or return, he never did it directly from Spain or to the peninsula,” the researchers point out, describing the precautions he used to leave no trace of his passage. Nowhere.
“You could suddenly see him in Melilla, where he could go to spend Ramadan with his family, but he did not arrive by plane or regular boat,” the police point out.
But for Karim Bouyakhricham, a man who “moved a lot and very cautiously,” a phone call was enough to move a container with several tons of cocaine, unload it, and take the drugs out of the Dutch ports “on the left.” or on the right, he directed everything,” the researchers say.
"He controlled the emissaries who went to Latin America to close the shipments, enabled their entry and exit from the ports, facilitated transportation for distribution throughout Europe and negotiated and closed drug prices," they detail.
“He managed dozens of stevedores in different ports, including port authorities, his way of functioning gives an idea of his power, his economic capacity and corruption,” the investigators warn.
Economic capacity
The cocaine trafficking business moves billions of euros a year, with which drug traffickers also drill into the institutions and organizations of the different countries where they need to “make their work easier.”
“Drug traffic is very strong,” warn Spanish and Latin American police officials.
Marbella, Melilla and Morocco, “are the places where they live and where they launder a good part of the money from these drug trafficking operations,” mainly in real estate investments, restaurants, cafes and vehicle dealerships.
The other six people who were arrested alongside Bouyakhricham in mid-December, including his partner and father-in-law, mostly played the role of front men.
Among the others arrested, there are also “very well connected” Spanish businessmen in Marbella and Melilla, one of whom fled the autonomous city before being arrested and also appeared on his own in court after arriving with his yacht at the Malaga port of Estepona from Morocco, according to sources from the police operation.
Researchers believe that the Bouyakhricham empire is much larger than what they have managed to bring to light, especially in Morocco;
and that there are many more front men who keep the family fortune safe in half the world.
On December 13, UDYCO agents launched the operation to dismantle the clan.
Hours before, and after an alleged leak, Karim's father, mother and sisters fled to his hometown, Nador, from Melilla, his usual place of residence.
None have been arrested so far.
Karim Bouyakhricham, before being extradited to Holland, where he is wanted by justice, will be tried in Spain, and, according to investigators, “he will try by all means not to enter a Dutch prison because he knows that, with Taghi imprisoned there, he is dead".
With the El Laca clan, the Taghi clan beheaded and now the Bouyakhricham on the Costa del Sol, it remains to be seen who will take over and how.
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