Morocco’s General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) announced on Thursday that it was opening a
judicial inquiry into alleged acts of corruption, abuse of power, and smuggling at the port of Tangier Med.
This follows investigations conducted under the authority of the competent public prosecutor’s office for fraud.
According to a DGSN statement, “the National Brigade of the Judicial Police launched a judicial investigation, under the supervision of the competent public prosecutor’s office, to verify criminal acts attributed to twenty-four individuals.”
The accused included “six police officers, six relevant officials from a local unit of the General Directorate of Territorial Surveillance (DGST), and two customs agents,” suspected of having “failed to fulfill their duties related to their positions, for the purposes of corruption and abuse of influence,” in operations involving “smuggling of goods and prohibited products.”
In the statement, the DGST indicates that its services had provided information regarding the alleged involvement of some officials in violating customs procedures at the port of Tangier.
This involvement stemmed from the abuse of influence through interventions on behalf of individuals to circumvent customs regulations, in exchange for bribes.
The investigations conducted have identified several individuals suspected of complicity in these alleged acts of impropriety, as well as the officials suspected of involvement in the offenses and criminal acts, the same statement inicates.
The suspects have been placed under judicial investigation at the instruction of the competent public prosecutor’s office to determine the degree and extent of their involvement in the offenses and crimes committed, the statement adds, noting that the investigations are ongoing to identify all perpetrators, accomplices, and beneficiaries of the criminal acts committed.
AK/ac/fss/as/APA