Morocco: Drug trafficker Younes El Ballouti from Antwerp arrested in Tangier

Younes El Ballouti, 30, a drug trafficker convicted several times in Belgium and wanted by the courts, was arrested in Tangier, Moroccan media reported on Monday, September 29. Arrested in a shisha bar and then imprisoned in Casablanca, he was reportedly arrested not because he was on an Interpol wanted list at Belgium's request, but for crimes committed in Morocco, including the use of a false passport.

The younger brother of Othman El Ballouti, one of Antwerp's biggest drug traffickers, who was extradited to Belgium by the United Arab Emirates in July, Younes had recently left Dubai to avoid possible arrest. As a Moroccan national, he knows that the country's law prohibits the extradition of nationals.

Tangier, where cocaine seizures have been on the rise in recent weeks, has also become, according to various sources, a haven for dozens of Moroccans, members of the "Moccro mafia," the powerful criminal group that had taken over a large part of the trafficking in Antwerp and Rotterdam. Its leader, Ridouan Taghi, was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Netherlands in 2024.

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