Football/President of Wydad Casablanca Football Club arrested in Drug trafficking Case
The president of Wydad Casablanca Said Naciri, one of Morocco’s leading football clubs, was detained on Friday as part of a wide-ranging drug trafficking case, according to information obtained by AFP from his lawyer.
Said Naciri, 54, faces multiple charges, including «forgery of official documents, possession and distribution of drugs, and use of forged checks», the lawyer said, requesting anonymity.
The investigating judge at the Court of Appeal in Casablanca has also charged Said Naciri, who is also a member of the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM, a liberal party participating in the government coalition), with money laundering, according to Moroccan media.
The investigation, involving a total of 25 defendants, 21 of whom are currently in custody, also implicates Abdenbi Bioui, president of the regional council of Oriental (northeast Morocco) and also a PAM member, according to the lawyer.
A new hearing before the investigating judge is scheduled for January 25.
The investigation was initiated based on statements made by a Malian national, already convicted in Morocco for drug trafficking, implicating the Wydad boss in these criminal activities, the lawyer stated.
Last summer, Jeune Afrique magazine identified this Malian as El Hadj Ahmed Ben Ibrahim, a drug lord sentenced in 2019 to ten years in prison for «international drug trafficking».
Wydad, which has won the CAF Champions League three times, is one of the most successful football clubs in Morocco.
