Moroccan police reportedly seized 1.37 tons of cocaine hidden in a cargo of frozen fish in the city of Casablanca on Friday.
The police’s preliminary findings indicated the cargo came from a Latin American country through Spain, Reuters reported, citing a statement from Moroccan law enforcement. Police were alerted to the cargo after being tipped off by the owners of the units finding the white powder, according to Morocco World News. (RELATED: Over 2,000 Dead As Powerful Earthquake Strikes Morocco)
Morocco seizes 1.37 tons of cocaine concealed in frozen fish https://t.co/62TdGMPkA4 pic.twitter.com/txmKNHp2NL
— Reuters (@Reuters) October 20, 2023
The police reportedly raided several locations and warehouses that revealed the illicit haul of 1.37 tons of cocaine. Officers seized over 190 kilograms of cocaine in 2022, according to Moroccan police data cited by the outlet.
Morocco, along with Belgium and the Netherlands, became a “pivotal” country in the Latin American-European cocaine trade in February 2023, according to the Institute for Security Studies (ISS). “Latin American drug traffickers have increasingly used Morocco and other Maghreb countries, and dealers with a foothold in Morocco and Europe, like the Mocro Maffia, for their transnational cocaine trade. Colombian and Mexican cartels used the group to facilitate the drug route into Europe via Spain’s southern city of Algeciras,” ISS wrote.
The Mocro Maffia has grown to be linked to one-third of Europe’s cocaine market, according to ISS. Morocco on Oct. 6 pledged to continue its war on drugs campaign and to crack down on new forms of cocaine such as l’Poufa, Morocco World News reported in a separate article. Security forces recorded a total of 156,552 cases involving drugs from January 2022 to January 2023 and 204,761 arrests from these investigations over the same period, the outlet reported.