Mohamed Benabdelhak, a figure of French organised crime, was sentenced on Friday by the Bordeaux court to 13 years of firm imprisonment for cannabis trafficking between Morocco and France.[1] He was prosecuted for complicity in the transport and sale of narcotics in a state of repeat offending, and for criminal association.[1] His brother Rachid was sentenced to 11 years in prison, and several other defendants also received firm prison terms.[2] His lawyer Hugues Vigier said they would appeal, arguing that the conviction did not reflect Benabdelhak’s actual involvement and that a reputation had been judged more than the substance of the case.[1]

Twenty defendants stood trial over about ten go-fast convoys used to move cannabis in 2011 and 2012.[3] Most of the other defendants came from Creil in the Oise and were tried for organised drug trafficking between November 2011 and November 2012 through ten go-fasts.[1] Each defendant was pursued for one or more of those trips.[1] The convoys were used to supply drugs to the Paris region and the Nantes region.[3] The trial was held before the first chamber of the Jirs, Bordeaux’s interregional specialised court for organised crime.[1]

In this trial he was nevertheless described as the organiser who commissioned the go-fasts from Morocco, with a very criminal and dangerous network.[1] On 13 April 2014, another heavily armed commando opened fire while trying in vain to enter Saint-Gilles prison near Brussels, where he was awaiting extradition to France.[2]