Algerian police arrested Marseille trafficking figure Mohamed Djeha, known as Mimo, in Oran on 15 June 2023 after years on the run. Wanted in France on a 10-year money-laundering sentence and a 30-year murder-order sentence, he is expected to be tried in Algeria rather than extradited.
Mohamed Djeha, known as Mimo and described as one of France’s biggest drug
traffickers, was arrested in Algeria after years on the run.[1]Algerian
police made the arrest on Thursday in Oran in north-west Algeria.[1]The
arrest took place on 15 June near Oran.[2]Investigators called him the number
one for drug trafficking in Marseille who also organised imports of cannabis or
cocaine for other French regions and listed him as an OFAST priority target.[3]
Born on 21 September 1981 in Bejaia, the 41-year-old known as Mimo, Papipaolo or
Suarez had been wanted since 2019 after a ten-year prison sentence for
laundering drug-trafficking money in Marseille’s La Castellane.[1]In May that
year he was also sentenced in his absence to 30 years by the Aix-en-Provence
court for ordering a 2017 murder on the A55 motorway near Marseille.[1]French
judicial authorities reported the facts to Algeria so he could be tried there,
ruling out extradition because he holds Franco-Algerian nationality and Algeria
does not extradite its nationals.[1]The arrest followed an OFAST visit to
Algeria in May and a visit by the French police chief and central judicial
police director in June to discuss cooperation on his case.[1]
Many neighbourhoods in France’s second city are described as blighted by drug
trafficking, mostly cannabis, with increasingly deadly fights over selling
points.[1]Since 2018 and the first trial, Mimo had no longer lived in France
and was known to travel between Dubai, Algeria and Morocco.[1]Investigators
only recently became certain he had settled in Algeria and was avoiding Dubai
for fear of arrest and transfer to French justice.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
France 24france24.comFRMohamed Djeha, l'un des plus importants narcotrafiquants en France, arrêté en Algérie
Open questions the AI reported
No quantity, weight, value or seizure at the Oran arrest itself was published, so no cannabis amount is recorded.
The 15 June 2023 date is the Thursday before the 21-22 June publications, explicitly stated by France 24 and France 3; the MEE account gives it only as last Thursday.
The MEE page image is a 2012 Algeria police file photo and the France 24 image is a 2014 illustration, so no event photo is linked.
The prior convictions are reported as laundering of drug-trafficking proceeds and ordering a murder; the sources do not separate what share was cannabis, so only the arrest is counted.
No charge sheet, Algerian trial date or later outcome for the reported plan to try him in Algeria was published.
Algiers police arrested six people suspected of running a neighbourhood gang that intimidated residents of Draria, seizing 19.6 grams of processed cannabis alongside cocaine, psychotropic tablets, bladed weapons and suspected drug proceeds. The six were presented before the public prosecutor at the Chéraga court.
Béjaïa police arrested nine people in a drug-trafficking investigation that began in Oued Ghir and continued with searches in Barbacha and Saket. Officers seized a piece of Indian hemp alongside pregabalin and ecstasy tablets; seven were remanded and two placed under judicial supervision.
Algiers judicial police arrested four people, including a woman, in Chéraga over an alleged organised drug-trafficking network. Officers seized just over 7 kg of treated kif alongside cocaine, cash, vehicles and paraphernalia before referring the suspects to the Bir Mourad Raïs prosecutor.
Algeria's National Gendarmerie arrested 33 people, including a minor, and seized 176 kg of processed cannabis in Algiers on 4 November 2026. The defence ministry said the operation dismantled two cross-border criminal networks and also involved cocaine and psychotropic tablets.
