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El Hadj Ahmed Ben Brahim dijjuluki Pablo Escobar dari Gurun Sahara. Foto/maroc-hebdo.press.ma
GAZA – Since the end of December, the only thing Moroccans have been talking about is El Hadj Ahmed Ben Brahim nicknamed “Pablo Escobar of the Sahara”, a mysterious African drug lord, once in prison for four years, who revealed a network of politicians and public figures .
On December 22, the Casablanca Court of Appeal ordered the temporary detention of 25 public figures involved in the case dubbed the “Escobar Sahara case”.
Pan-African magazine Jeune Afrique reported that 28 Moroccan figures were involved in the case. The French-language magazine has played a prominent role in the case since its first investigation into “Sahara’s Escobar” in 2019.
In a tumultuous situation, Moroccan political parties are facing controversy that could endanger their parliamentary seats. Some chose to remain silent, while others hinted at the possibility of a conspiracy.
Who is El Hadj Ahmed Ben Brahim? The drug lord nicknamed Pablo Escobar from the Sahara Desert
El Hadj Ahmed Ben Brahim, nicknamed the “Pablo Escobar of the Sahara” or “Malian”, was born in Kidal, Mali, in 1976 to a Moroccan mother and a Malian father. The only photograph of him available is a fragment of a sketch by Jeune Afrique.
According to Pan-African magazine, this Malian lived a simple life as a shepherd until one day, he met a French man who had gone missing in the desert. This meeting changed everything.
The French man who turned out to be a businessman introduced Haji Ahmed Ben Brahim to the import and export of cars between Europe and Africa.
After accumulating a small fortune, the young Ben Brahim had higher aspirations, venturing into the gold trade and gradually establishing a network in the Sahelo-Sahara region.
After gold, in 2006 he ventured into transporting drugs from Latin America to West Africa via Mali and Niger, to Algeria, Libya and Egypt by land or sea to the coast of Morocco and then to Europe.
In Morocco, he reportedly invested significantly in real estate at Marina Saidia, a luxury beach, and many businesses and factories yet to be revealed.
In 2015, subject to an Interpol search warrant, he was arrested following a chase with the gendarmerie in the Mauritanian desert.