Moroccan mafia

Moroccan mafia
FoundedLate 1980s
TerritoryMorocco, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, France, United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Germany, United Arab Emirates, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Panama, Suriname, Israel, Romania, Ireland
EthnicityMoroccan
MembershipAt least 20 known clans and families.
ActivitiesDrug trafficking, money laundering, tax evasion, extortion, racketeering, political corruption, murder, contract killing, terrorism, kidnapping, torture, arms trafficking, property crime, robbery, motor vehicle theft, arson
AlliesIrish mob
'Ndrangheta
Camorra
Serbian mafia
Clan del Golfo
Sinaloa cartel[1]
Oficina de Envigado
Galician clans
Penose
Albanian mafia[2]
RivalsRussian mafia
Baybaşin family

The Moroccan mafia (Arabic: مافيا مغربية, romanizedMafia Maghrebiyya, Berber languages: ⵎⴰⴼⵢⴰ ⵉⵎⵖⵔⵉⴱⵉⵢⵏ, Dutch: Mocro Maffia) is a term that describes various criminal organisations that are primarily made up of people of Moroccan descent. These organisations are specialized in trafficking large quantities of cocaine and synthetic drugs through Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and Belgium, from where it is distributed to the rest of the European continent,[3][4] thus being one of the most dominant participants in the European drug trade.[5][6]

In broader terms of Moroccan organized crime, this also includes northern Moroccan hash kingpins[7][8] and southern Moroccan traffickers who play a key-role in the African drug trade, as well as in human trafficking, arms trafficking and the trafficking of contraband such as cigarettes and alcohol, although they are seen as a separate entity from the Mocro Maffia who are mostly active in the northern part of Morocco and Europe.[9][10][11][12]

Moroccan criminal networks in Europe have mainly been active since the 1990s, and consist mostly of Belgian and Dutch citizens with a Moroccan immigrant background. These criminal networks have privileged relationships with Colombian and Mexican cartels,[13] and they often import drugs into Europe through the harbours of Antwerp, Rotterdam and Algeciras.[3][14]

The Moroccan mafia does not, however, include Moroccan Jewish crime families such as the Abergil crime family[15] as well as the Abutbul[16] and Domrani clans,[17] who are rather considered to be a part of the Israeli mafia. That said, Moroccan-Israeli mafia clans are known for having collaborated closely together with the Mocro Maffia in the Netherlands and Belgium, especially in the worldwide distribution of synthetic drugs such as MDMA.[18] This is mostly due to the fact that the Netherlands is the largest producer of MDMA and amphetamines in the world.[19]

  1. ^ "Vertegenwoordiger Mexicaans drugskartel bedreigt 'Señor el Ballouti': "Schulden zijn ereschulden"". gva. 19 July 2023.
  2. ^ "32 ton cocaïne en voor meer dan 7 miljoen euro aan villa's en wagens in beslag genomen: Grootste drugsbende ooit in ons land staat weldra voor rechter". nieuwsblad. 21 March 2023.
  3. ^ a b Voskuil, Yelle Tieleman en Koen (18 October 2019). "Politie: 'Superkartel met Ridouan Taghi beheerst de cokemarkt'" (in Dutch). Het Parool. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  4. ^ "De mocromaffia in Amsterdam: wie zijn ze? En staan ze bekend voor liquidaties? 5 vragen en antwoorden". vrtnws.be (in Dutch). 3 April 2018. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  5. ^ "Taghi part of "super cartel" controlling third of EU cocaine trafficking: report". NL Times. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  6. ^ Kasraoui, Safaa. "New Data Shows Morocco is the Largest Supplier of Cannabis to Europe". www.moroccoworldnews.com/. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  7. ^ Tondo, Lorenzo (1 December 2016). "One of World's Most Wanted Hashish Smugglers Arrested in Morocco". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  8. ^ Smith, Charlie (25 June 2020). "WATCH: Drug kingpin known as 'Messi of hash' arrested while eating lunch with family in Spain's Andalucia". Olive Press News Spain. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  9. ^ Lacher, Wolfram. "Organized Crime and Conflict in the Sahel-Sahara Region". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  10. ^ Cherif, Rahma Ouled. "SIPRI: Morocco Was 17th Biggest Importer of Trafficked Guns 2009–2018". www.moroccoworldnews.com/. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  11. ^ Boukhars, Anouar. "Barriers Versus Smugglers: Algeria and Morocco's Battle for Border Security". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  12. ^ "Morocco: Advanced techniques to dismantle human trafficking and migrant smuggling criminal networks". www.unodc.org. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  13. ^ "'Razzouki vermomde zich als oudere, verliet amper zijn huis'". Het Parool (in Dutch). 10 February 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  14. ^ "Illicit trafficking of cocaine in Western and Northern Africa - INTERPOL - The International Criminal Police Organization" (PDF). INTERPOL.
  15. ^ "Abergil crime family". Combster.tv. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  16. ^ "Mobster Charlie Abutbul buried in Netanya in latest setback to long-declining crime family". The Jerusalem Post. 19 April 2014. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  17. ^ "Israeli criminals make their way to Morocco". Al-Monitor. 12 December 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  18. ^ "'Cocaïne-zending Bouker waarschijnlijk fataal'". Crimesite (in Dutch). 8 December 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  19. ^ "Dutch ecstasy, amphetamine production among world's largest". DW.COM. 25 August 2018.