The judicial body at the Criminal Court of First Instance of the Oran Judicial Council recently decided in one of the largest cases of contraband smuggling that was behind an organized criminal network consisting of 10 defendants, two of whom are still on the run. They were charged with the felony of illegally possessing, transporting, storing and purchasing with the intention of selling psychotropic substances within the framework of an organized criminal group. Smuggling is at a level of seriousness that threatens the national economy and public health. Participation in smuggling is at a level of severity that threatens the national economy and health. General, in addition to two misdemeanors of money laundering within the framework of a criminal group and abuse of office.
Judgments were issued against the observers, convicting the accused “L-A-H” of 20 years’ imprisonment, since he was considered the owner of the vehicle that was loaded with more than 2,650,550 “ecstasy” tablets coming from Spain through the port of Mostaganem, and 15 years’ imprisonment for “S-A” who was responsible for transporting and distributing hallucinogens. The two brothers who work as customs declarants in the port of Mostaganem were also punished with 10 years’ imprisonment. As for the chief inspector of the Customs Departments Inspectorate, “A-Kh,” a 5-year prison sentence was imposed against him, while 3 defendants benefited from their acquittal, and the matter concerns the drivers of trucks towing broken down vehicles. As for the two defendants who are still on the run, including an assistant carrying out the inspection at the Customs Authority, they were sentenced to life imprisonment.
The facts of the case file date back to the beginning of July 2024, when the regional service of the judicial police of the army’s security forces received information about the process of passing a significant amount of hallucinogens through the port of Mostaganem towards the capital of western Algeria, in order to track the movements of the main suspect, “L-A-H”, who was on board a tourist car of the type “Kia Sorento” bearing a special registration number for the state of Spain, and as soon as he was stopped and his vehicle was searched, it was found inside. 53 bags filled with 2,650,500 “Ecstasy” tablets, weighing 93 kg, tightly hidden in various parts of the car.
He was transferred directly to the security headquarters, and confessed that he was one of the elements of a criminal network whose activities extend outside the country, and that he aimed to transfer the contraband to hand it over to one of his partners in charge of distributing it to the promotion barons in Oran, adding that he worked under the command of the two barons, “Yahya” and “Radouane.”
In-depth investigations also led to the identification of elements who had a hand in passing the shipment, led by two brothers “D-Sh” and “D-M”, who are customs officials, and they assumed the task of customsizing the car and removing it from the port. Along with them was the accused “B.T”, who benefited from the patent, and was in charge of transporting cars for the purpose of customs, and was present when the vehicle passed at the time of its inspection, and it was his responsibility, along with the rest, to carefully inspect the car internally and externally.
The accused “S-A” also admitted before the investigation that he is active within a criminal network, as he used his residence as a storehouse for psychotropic substances, and he received an amount of one billion centimes to complete the customs procedures. The investigation included the chief inspector of the Customs Departments Inspectorate in Mostaganem “A-K”, who is directly responsible for the passage of the vehicle loaded with hallucinogens, as he did not use the scanner device to ensure the safety of the vehicle and settle its file before it left the port, and thus it became clear that he exploited his job in order to facilitate the passage process. Prohibited items.
For its part, the team reached out to the drivers of the breakdown trucks, led by “S-S,” who was the first responsible for transporting the car. However, he apologized because his truck was broken down, and took care of bringing his friend “A-M” to act on his behalf to transport it from the city of Mostaganem to the city of Oran.
After completing all the procedures, the file was referred to the trial session, where the main accused who was on board the car admitted to the charges against him, while the accused “Y-A” tried to deny the charges against him, stressing that the money he had was allocated to completing customs procedures related to a cow deal.
As for the rest of the defendants, they denied the actions attributed to them, while the customs inspector stated that he was not responsible for the operation, because the scanner device was broken and he was unable to inspect all the goods manually. For his part, the representative of the Public Prosecution requested the imposition of a sentence of 20 years in prison, so that the ruling would be based on the aforementioned punishment.
