Royal Gendarmerie officers at the Sidi Bibi centre in Chtouka Ait Baha province, acting under the direct supervision of the centre commander, arrested a man who had come from the Trast area on suspicion of possessing and trafficking drugs.[1] The officers seized a quantity of chira, the cannabis resin known in Morocco as hashish, estimated at about one kilogram.[1][2] The public prosecutor ordered that the suspect be held in garde à vue, or police custody, while a judicial investigation establishes the circumstances of the case and looks for any possible extensions of the activity.[1][2]
He is expected to be brought before a court once the investigation and the legal procedures are complete.[3] The gendarmerie presented the arrest as part of its security interventions against drug trafficking and other crime in the centre’s territory, aimed at strengthening security there.[3] It said the operation confirmed the unit’s continuing vigilance and its intensified interventions aimed at containing criminal activity and protecting the security and safety of citizens.[1]
The suspect was a man in his forties.[2] He was stopped in a car at the commune centre.[2] The gendarmerie suspected him of belonging to a criminal network active in smuggling and trafficking drugs and psychotropic substances.[2] Investigators were also looking for possible links to international drug smuggling networks.[2]