On June 25, 2026, the Casablanca Court of Appeal in Morocco sentenced 29 defendants to prison terms ranging from 2 to 12 years in a major drug trafficking and corruption case, concluding a two-year trial. The case is considered one of the largest anti-corruption campaigns in Morocco's history.
Among those convicted are three prominent figures: Abdennebi Bioui (construction magnate and former regional council president), Said Naciri (former president of the Wydad AC Casablanca football and sports club), and Belkacem Mir (former parliamentarian) — all senior members of the ruling PAM party. Naciri received a 10-year sentence, Bioui 12 years, and Mir 10 years. The remaining defendants received sentences from 2 to 9 years, depending on their roles.
The case originated from the testimony of El Hadj Ahmed Ben Brahim, the notorious Malian drug lord nicknamed the 'Pablo Escobar of the Sahara.' Currently serving a 10-year sentence in Morocco, Ben Brahim claimed that his former political and business partners had betrayed him, seizing millions of dollars worth of real estate and luxury cars after his arrest in 2019.
The trial involved more than 20 defendants, 18 witnesses, and two civil plaintiffs, centered on a sophisticated network transporting tons of cannabis resin from Morocco through North Africa to Europe, along with cocaine from Latin America. Charges included drug trafficking, gold smuggling, corruption, document forgery, and money laundering.
The court also ordered the seizure of assets and imposed hundreds of millions of dollars in customs and foreign exchange fines on the main masterminds. According to Moroccan media, the families of the defendants, who had no lawyers due to a lawyers' strike, were shocked, with some fainting in court.
The scandal reached the highest levels of the state, prompting King Mohammed VI to call for the enactment of a legally binding code of ethics to 'moralize' parliamentary life.
