He was one of the biggest drug traffickers in France, but especially in Marseille. Franco-Algerian Mohamed Djeha was arrested on Thursday June 15, near Oran, Algeria. His arrest was a priority for the French anti-narcotics office (Ofast), but he was also the subject of a red notice published by Interpol. He reigned with an iron fist over drug trafficking in the Marseille city.
With our correspondent in Marseille, Mathieu Limongi
He is one of the most impregnable fugitives who had been on the loose for years. The man was being tracked by the French and Algerian authorities. Mimo, his nickname, managed from Dubai or Algeria, a powerful drug trafficking network in the city of La Castellane, in the northern districts of Marseille. It is here that some of the most important points of sale in the city are located, with a turnover that can go up to 80,000 euros every day.
But from his hideouts, he also ensured the supply of cannabis and cocaine to many other points of sale in Marseille but also in other regions. Since 2019, the 41-year-old man had been the subject of an arrest warrant following a conviction for laundering drug trafficking.
Before his arrest, Mohamed Djeha had just been sentenced a second time to 30 years’ imprisonment for having participated in an assassination in 2017 on a highway near Marseille. He could even, according to the police, be involved in other settling of accounts.
Great chefs hidden abroad
Many districts of the second city of France are plagued by drug trafficking, mainly cannabis. Wars for control of outlets are increasingly deadly. In 2022, around 30 people lost their lives in drug trafficking related settlings. Since the beginning of this year, 23 people have been killed, including a mother, who could be a collateral victim, on May 10.
The victims are generally young men, sometimes teenagers, located at the bottom of the trafficking ladder. The great leaders, like Mohamed Djeha, hiding abroad, in the Middle East, in the Maghreb or in Spain. “ Since 2018 and the first trial, Mimo no longer resided in France. We knew he was traveling between Dubai, Algeria and Morocco “, tells AFP a source familiar with the matter.
It was only recently that the investigators were certain that he had settled in Algeria and that he was avoiding Dubai for fear of being arrested there and then handed over to French justice. For some years, OFAST has set itself the priority of tracking down major traffickers, often based abroad, thanks in particular to an “intelligence unit” of around thirty people, with some major successes.
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(And with AFP)