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Drug trafficking and gang warfare in Marseille: a suspected kingpin arrested in Morocco

2021-11-15T20:21:10.666Z


Karim Harrat, 34, who was the subject of a European arrest warrant, is suspected of being involved in an account settlement case


After the arrests of drug lords Moufide Bouchibi, 41, and Sofiane Hambli, 46, arrested respectively last March in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, and in September in Tangier in Morocco, it's the turn this time , of Karim Harrat, a suspected rising cannabis trafficker, to be arrested in Morocco. According to our information, this 33-year-old Algerian, living in Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône), was arrested this Sunday, November 14 at Casablanca airport by the Moroccan authorities on the basis of a European arrest warrant. Information confirmed this Monday evening by the Marseille prosecutor's office in a press release.

Considered to be a major importer of cannabis resin in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, the alleged trafficker was wanted in the context of a judicial investigation of the murder chief in an organized gang.

A fatal settling of accounts that occurred in 2020 in the Bouches-du-Rhône.

The investigation was entrusted at the time to the territorial directorate of the Marseille judicial police.

The man is presented as a caïd in full rise being part of this new generation of traffickers ready to kill in order to appropriate or preserve territories.

Described as charismatic and clever, the suspect with a rather modest criminal record seems to have so far passed through the nets of the police.

"He pulled the strings of traffic from afar"

In 2010, aged 22, he stole bank cards that he used at gas stations and tobacco shops to buy large quantities of games.

One way to launder traffic money?

At the time, the young man, feeling wanted, fled to Algeria before returning to France to be sentenced to ten months in prison.

At the time of his judgment, the defendant had been able to rely on his good behavior in prison and the fact that he had begun to reimburse his victims.

Read alsoSerial settlements of accounts: in Marseille, a worrying context of insecurity

Since then, the man had been able to remain discreet.

"He pulled the strings of traffic from afar," explains a person close to the file.

Investigators from the judicial police believe that Karim Harrat has played an active role in the violence that has inflamed Marseille for two years, the scene of a war of gangs claiming territories linked to drug trafficking.

Since the beginning of the year, more than fifteen people have died in settlements around Marseille.

Facts of extreme violence.

Source: leparis

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