Former president of the Maghreb Athletic Club of Tetouan, R.O, also known as “Temsamani,” has been sentenced to 6 years of imprisonment by the Court of Appeal in Rabat.
The ruling comes after R.O was extradited from Belgium in August 2022, and was found to be the leader of one of Morocco’s largest drug trafficking networks.
Along with the prison term, he has been fined 10,000 dirhams and ordered to pay 360 million dirhams to customs, according to Al Akhbar.
The sentencing of R.O was influenced by testimonies from two former drug lords who had already served 22 years in prison and claimed to have no knowledge of him.
The convicted individual faced charges of complicity with other drug lords, involvement in a case dating back to 2016, drug trafficking between Morocco and Europe, and corruption at northern ports where he concealed drugs in shipments of food and other commodities.
Two of his accomplices received prison terms of 4 years, a fine of 5,000 dirhams, and were ordered to pay 270 million dirhams to customs, while another accomplice was sentenced to 2 years in prison and a fine of 12 million dirhams to be paid to customs.
These sentences pale in comparison to the harsher penalties imposed on other members of the “Temsamani network,” which total over 250 years of imprisonment. The network includes 26 gendarmes, 16 national security agents, a customs officer, government officials, businessmen, truck drivers, a Dutch national, a Spanish national, farmers, security guards, and entrepreneurs.
“Temsamani,” who had obtained Belgian citizenship, had been the subject of an international arrest warrant issued by Interpol. He was apprehended by Belgian authorities and extradited to Morocco in August 2022. Following his presentation to the general prosecutor’s office, he was subsequently incarcerated at El Arjat prison.
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