Morocco foils gold smuggling attempt from Mauritania, other drug trafficking operation

Morocco’s Regional Police forces at the Guerguerat crossing with Mauritania in southern Morocco nabbed Thursday November 16 five individuals between the ages of 21 and 52 for smuggling golds as well as illegal drugs used for cosmetic and sexual purposes, reports say.

The men were arrested in two separate operations. The first led to the arrest of four Moroccan citizens in a car coming from Mauritania.

The search of the car revealed the presence of 70 kilograms of Maassel, a harmful tobacco mix. The security forces also discovered considerable amounts of dangerous cosmetics and sexual drugs.

The second operation led to the arrest of another Moroccan citizen in possession of eight unauthorized gold bars, with a weight of over 10 kilograms. Mauritania is gold producer and the country reportedly exported, in 2021, $606 M worth of gold.

However, the sub-Saharan country has been facing gold trafficking in the Sahel that spans almost 6,000 kilometers from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea.