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courage is contagious

Viewing cable 08RABAT1049, MOROCCO: 2008-2009 INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
08RABAT1049 2008-11-04 16:37 2011-08-24 16:30 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Rabat
VZCZCXYZ0008
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHRB #1049/01 3091637
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 041637Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY RABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9307
INFO RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 4916
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID PRIORITY 6056
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 5129
UNCLAS RABAT 001049 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/MAG AND INL 
PASS TO DEA PARIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR MO
SUBJECT: MOROCCO: 2008-2009 INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL 
STRATEGY REPORT 
 
REF: STATE 100989 
 
1. Summary:  The Government of Morocco (GOM) has achieved 
significant reductions in its cannabis and cannabis resin 
production in recent years.  Advances in Morocco,s 
counternarcotics efforts appear to be a function of the GOM's 
comprehensive counternarcotics strategy, which places 
emphasis on combining conventional law enforcement, crop 
eradication, international cooperation, and demand reduction 
efforts with economic development to erode the "cannabis 
growing culture8 that exists in northern Morocco.  The vast 
majority of cannabis produced in Morocco is consumed in 
Europe and has little, if any, impact on the U.S. market for 
illegal drugs.  Morocco is a party to the 1988 UN Drug 
Convention. 
 
------------------ 
Status of Country 
------------------ 
 
2.  Morocco is the world,s largest cannabis resin (hashish) 
producer and has consistently ranked among the world,s 
largest producers of cannabis, but its importance as a main 
source country for cannabis resin is declining.  The 2008 
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reports that 
fewer countries around the world are citing Morocco as the 
&source8 country or &origin8 of the cannabis resin found 
in their markets.  The percentage of countries citing Morocco 
as the origin of hashish found in their markets has dropped 
from 31 percent in 2003 to 18 percent in 2006.  This progress 
appears to testify to the GOM,s counter drug efforts and 
Afghanistan's increased cannabis resin production. 
 
3.  Cannabis remains primarily an export for Moroccan 
growers, with the vast majority of the product typically 
processed into cannabis resin or oil and exported 
predominately to Europe.  Only very small amounts of cannabis 
and narcotics being produced in or transiting through Morocco 
reach the United States. 
 
4.  The cannabis industry serves as a livelihood for large 
segments of Morocco,s population situated in the northern 
tip of the country between the Rif Mountains and the 
Mediterranean Sea, where cultivation is centered. 
Approximately 760,000 Moroccans living in roughly 60 percent 
of villages in that area are involved in cannabis 
cultivation, according to the GOM. 
 
5.  The center of cannabis production in Morocco appears to 
have shifted from Chefchaouen to al-Hoceima due to GOM 
eradication efforts.  Nearly 50 percent of cannabis 
cultivation occurs in al-Hoceima, with the surrounding 
provinces of Taounate, Tetouan and Chefchaouen, largely 
making up the rest of production.  According to the GOM, the 
province of Larache has become a less important area for 
cannabis cultivation. 
 
6.  Comparatively a smaller problem but growing rapidly, 
Morocco is also combating the growth in trafficking and 
consumption of &harder drugs,8 particularly cocaine. 
According to the GOM, South American drug smugglers are 
transporting increased amounts of the drug through Morocco 
and onward to Europe. 
 
7.  Heroin and psychotropic drugs (methamphetamine, Ecstasy, 
etc.) are also making inroads into the country but to a 
lesser extent than cocaine.  To date, Morocco has no known 
enterprises that use dual-use precursor chemicals, and the 
country neither serves as a known source nor transit point 
for them. 
 
-------------------- 
Policy Initiatives 
-------------------- 
 
8.  Morocco,s national strategy to combat drugs rests on the 
four pillars of:  (1) interdiction, (2) eradication, (3) 
international cooperation, and (4) demand reduction.  Data 
suggests that Morocco,s strongest actions have been in the 
areas of interdiction and eradication.  GOM officials seek to 
build upon their already strong existing relationships with 
international organizations such as the UNODC, the U.S. Drug 
Enforcement Agency (DEA), the International Narcotics Control 
Board (OICS), and INTERPOL. Demand reduction efforts; 
however, have been weak, as GOM officials still consider this 
to be mainly a European issue. 
 
9.  Morocco,s national drug strategy is augmented by an 
emphasis on a broader economic development approach and crop 
substitution.  Moroccan officials, however, readily admit 
that alternatives are often a &hard sell8 to farmers who 
can earn 18 times the earnings of a substitute crop such as 
barley by continuing to grow cannabis. 
 
10.  Moroccan authorities reported that they hope to complete 
another detailed drug study in cooperation with UNODC as well 
as revise their national drug strategy in 2009.  Moroccan 
Ministry of Interior (MOI) authorities stated that they now 
have a goal to reduce cannabis cultivation to 12,000 ha by 
the year 2012.  If this goal is accomplished, it will mean 
that Morocco will have reduced cannabis cultivation by 91 
percent since it first started serious eradication efforts in 
2003. 
 
------------------------ 
Law Enforcement Efforts 
------------------------ 
 
11.  According to statistics from the Moroccan MOI, the 
following table is a summary of Morocco,s drug seizure 
efforts since 2004.  The decrease in cannabis and hashish 
seizures between 2007 and 2008 may partly be the result of 
successful GOM eradication efforts and droughts rendering 
less cannabis and hashish available on the local market. 
Note: 2008 figures include January through September only. 
 
 
                2004     2005     2006     2007    2008 
Cannabis  318MT    116MT    60MT     209MT       163MT 
Hashish    86MT     96MT    89MT     118MT        79MT 
Cocaine     4kg      8kg    57kg     248kg        25kg 
Heroin   1,001g   5,335g    714g    1,906g      5,932g 
Psychotropic Drugs(units) 
        168,257   94,900       55,881     55,243   35,673 
 
12.  The GOM reports it has deployed 11, 000 personnel into 
the Rif mountains and throughout the northern coastal areas 
to interdict drug shipments, maintain counternarcotics 
checkpoints, and staff observation posts along the coast. 
The Moroccan Navy carries out routine sea patrols.  GOM 
forces are now using helicopters, planes, speed boats, mobile 
x-ray scanners, ultrasound equipment, and satellites in their 
drug fight.  The mobile x-ray scanner has proven to be 
particularly effective, allowing GOM officials to seize a 
record quantity of 11 metric tons (MT) of cannabis resin in 
Tangier in December 2006.  The Moroccan Navy used a similar 
scanner to seize 3 MT of cannabis resin in April 2008 alone. 
The GOM recently acquired another mobile x-ray scanner for 
use in the port city of Nador. 
 
13.  In 2007, Morocco reports it arrested 18,734 Moroccans 
and 590 foreigners in connection with drug-related offenses. 
Of the foreigners arrested, 158 were Spanish, 70 French, 34 
Romanian, 32 Dutch, 19 Belgian and 8 Italian.  Arrests of 
traffickers at the ports, and at the Casablanca airport of 
arriving cocaine &mules8 from Sub-Saharan Africa, are 
frequently in the news.  In 2007, 93 kg of the total 248 kg 
of cocaine seized by the GOM was seized at the Mohammed V 
International Airport in Casablanca; the majority of the 84 
smugglers were West Africans in transit to Europe.  Detection 
training and the use of ultrasound equipment were critical to 
the success of these seizures.  As authorities become more 
vigilant, GOM officials opine that cocaine smugglers are 
likely to seek access to Europe through much harder to detect 
land routes and other methods. 
 
14.  Moroccan law provides a maximum allowable prison 
sentence for drug offenses of 30 years, as well as fines for 
illegal drug violations ranging from USD 20,000-80,000.  Ten 
to fifteen years imprisonment remains the typical sentence 
for major drug traffickers convicted in Morocco. 
 
15.  Of special note, an American citizen was arrested on May 
7, 2008 by Moroccan officials for an alleged drug shipment. 
On June 15, 2008, he was sentenced to seven years in prison, 
fined 1,200 USD, and had his aircraft confiscated.  The court 
also sentenced two Moroccan accomplices to prison terms of 
six and four years respectively, and acquitted two others. 
 
------------ 
Corruption 
------------ 
 
16.  As a matter of government policy, the GOM does not 
 
encourage or facilitate illicit production or distribution of 
narcotic or psychotropic drugs or other controlled 
substances, or the laundering of proceeds from illegal drug 
transactions.  These actions are illegal and the government 
tries to enforce these laws to the best of its ability. 
Despite GOM actions to combat the illicit drug trafficking 
industry, narcotics-related corruption among governmental, 
judicial, military and law enforcement officials appears to 
continue. 
 
17.  In August 2006, authorities arrested senior government 
official Abdelaziz Izzou (the head of security at Morocco's 
royal palaces) for his cooperation with a major drug baron 
when he was head of the Tangier judicial police from 1996 to 
2003.  After a lengthy trial, Izzou received an 18 month 
prison sentence and had 700,000 MAD (approximately 100,000 
USD) seized by the state in March 2008. 
 
18.  In December 2007, notorious drug baron Mohamed Taieb 
Ahmed (AKA &El Nene8) escaped from prison in Kenitra with 
the assistance of local prison guards.  Authorities 
re-captured &El Nene8 in Spain in April 2008.  For the role 
they played in the escape, Moroccan courts sentenced six 
Kenitra prison guards to prison terms ranging between two 
suspended months and four years on charges of forgery, 
corruption, and assisting a prisoner in escaping from 
custody.  The GOM changed the management of its prison system 
and is also in the process of reinforcing prison security in 
response to this and other prison escapes in early 2008. 
 
19.  In January 2008, Moroccan authorities prosecuted three 
members of the gendarmerie (rural police) on corruption 
charges following a complaint made by an airline passenger 
traveling through the Agadir-Al Massira Airport.  Moroccan 
police arrested the son of former Mauritanian president 
Khouna Ould Haidalla in July 2008 for attempting to smuggle 
18 kg of cocaine.  In October 2008, he was convicted and 
sentenced to seven years in prison. 
 
20.  During a speech in August 2008, King Mohammed VI called 
on the government to work actively to ensure that the Central 
Authority for the Prevention of Corruption become a reality. 
While not very effective at the moment, such an agency may 
prove helpful in fighting corruption within the illicit drug 
trade industry in future years. 
 
------------------------ 
Agreements and Treaties 
------------------------ 
 
21.  Morocco is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention, the 
1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances and the 1961 UN 
Single Convention as amended by the 1972 Protocol.  Morocco 
is also a party to the UN Convention against Transnational 
Organized Crime.  Morocco and the United States cooperate in 
law enforcement matters under a Mutual Legal Assistance 
Treaty (MLAT).  Morocco is a party to the UN Convention 
against Corruption.  Morocco has several cooperative 
agreements to fight against drugs with European countries 
such as Spain, France, Portugal, and Italy, and it seeks to 
work closely with other Arab and African countries. 
 
----------------------------------- 
Cultivation/Production/Eradication 
----------------------------------- 
 
22.  Morocco succeeded in decreasing the land dedicated to 
cannabis cultivation by 46 percent from 134,000 hectares in 
2003 to 72,500 hectares in 2005, due in part to an aggressive 
eradication campaign, carried out mainly by Gendarme and 
local authorities, according to GOM officials.  Cannabis 
resin production dropped 61 percent from 3,070 MT to 1,070 MT 
during the same time period.  Morocco used the following 
methods to eradicate illicit crops: (1) crop-dusting via 
airplane, (2) mechanical and manual destruction of crops and 
(3) burning. 
 
23.  GOM officials report that during the first phase of the 
2008 eradication campaign, they were able to eradicate a 
total of 4,376 ha of cannabis in the northern provinces. 
This includes 2,695 ha in Taounate, 985 ha in Chefchaouen, 
130 ha in Tetouan and 565 ha in Larache. 
 
-------------------- 
Drug Flow/Transit 
-------------------- 
 
 
24.  Given its proximity to Morocco, Spain is a key transfer 
point for Europe-bound Moroccan cannabis resin where it can 
normally be transshipped to most other Western European 
destinations.  France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy are 
also major European destinations for cannabis trafficked from 
Morocco. 
 
25.  The contraband is transported mainly via maritime and 
overland routes from northern Morocco, according to the GOM. 
Most large shipments of illicit cannabis bound for Spain 
travel via speedboats, which can make the roundtrip to Spain 
in one hour or less, although fishing boats, yachts, and 
other vessels are also used.  Smugglers also continue to 
transport cannabis via truck and car through the Spanish 
enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, known to have lower inspection 
standards than the rest of the European Union, and the 
Moroccan port of Tangier, crossing the Strait of Gibraltar by 
ferry.  Spain,s deployment of a network of fixed and modular 
radar, infrared, and video sensors around the Strait of 
Gibraltar, starting in 1999 and known as the Integrated 
System of External Vigilance (SIVE), has forced Moroccan 
smugglers to take longer and more vulnerable routes. 
 
26.  Latin American drug organizations have begun in recent 
years to exploit Morocco,s well-established cannabis routes 
to smuggle cocaine and perhaps also heroin into Europe. 
Although the main African redistribution centers for cocaine 
from Latin America remain sub-Saharan, including Ghana, 
Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Nigeria, Morocco is increasingly 
being used as a transit country in a trend that can be 
expected to continue.  In October 2008, the Colombian 
National Police seized a shipping container destined for 
Morocco with a declared cargo of aluminum roofing sheets but 
also containing 324 grams of cocaine. 
 
27.  Trans-national drug trafficking networks are a growing 
problem for Morocco.  Although French and Spanish networks 
are more prevalent, Romanian drug networks appeared in 
Morocco for the first time in 2007 when 34 Romanian 
traffickers were arrested.  There are initial indications of 
a Russian organized crime presence in Morocco, but not so far 
clearly engaged in narco-trafficking. 
 
---------------------------------- 
Domestic Programs/Demand Reduction 
---------------------------------- 
 
28.  The GOM is concerned about signs of an increase in 
domestic cocaine and heroin use, but does not aggressively 
promote reduction in domestic demand for these drugs or for 
cannabis.  Some press estimates suggest that as many as ten 
percent of adults regularly use cannabis, but the GOM does 
not currently have an effective system in place to measure 
and evaluate the situation.  Morocco has established a 
program to train the staffs of psychiatric hospitals in the 
treatment of drug addiction.  In partnership with UNODC, the 
Ministry of Health is exploring the relationship between drug 
use and HIV/AIDS infection in Morocco.  Moroccan civil 
society and some schools are active in promoting 
counternarcotics use campaigns. 
 
----------------------- 
Bilateral Cooperation 
----------------------- 
 
29.  The USG is working to enhance Morocco,s 
counternarcotics capability through training in law 
enforcement techniques, and to promote the GOM,s adherence 
to its obligations under relevant bilateral and international 
narcotics control agreements.  U.S.-supported efforts to 
strengthen anti-money laundering laws and efforts against 
terrorist financing may also contribute to the GOM,s ability 
to monitor the flow of money from the cannabis trade. 
 
30.  The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), which covers 
Morocco from its Paris office, continued its bilateral 
exchange of information with the Moroccans in support of 
several ongoing drug investigations in 2008.  The DEA invited 
the Director of Morocco,s Investigative Police Agency to 
participate as an observer in the July 2008 International 
Drug Enforcement Conference (IDEC) in Istanbul, Turkey. 
Morocco has now requested full membership in the IDEC.  The 
USG is presently working to provide the GOM a DEA 
internet-based communication tool that will enable Morocco to 
communicate directly with other countries in the region as 
well as South American counterparts.  This new communication 
system will allow real time exchange of intelligence 
 
information.  In 2008, the U.S. DEA office in Paris was able 
to facilitate meetings and exchanges between the GOM and 
Colombian officials to discuss South American trafficking 
networks and the threat they pose to Africa. 
 
31.  USG training remains an important factor in Morocco,s 
efforts to combat illegal narcotics.  During FY 2008, the 
U.S. Government provided training to Moroccan police, 
gendarmes, and customs officials in the areas of (1) 
narcotics identification and testing, (2) advanced U.S. Coast 
Guard boarding procedures, (3) fraudulent document detection 
and (4) customs and border issues.  The GOM requested 2009 
narcotics-related training assistance from the U.S. in the 
areas of airport interdiction, basic investigator techniques 
and money laundering.  Other programs are anticipated in 
support of the administration of justice that may favorably 
impact our continued involvement. 
 
------------ 
Road Ahead 
------------ 
 
32.  The endemic nature of the cannabis culture in Morocco 
will only be ameliorated through incremental application of 
Morocco,s comprehensive counternarcotics strategy.  The U.S. 
will continue to monitor the illegal drug situation in 
Morocco, cooperate with the GOM in its counternarcotics 
efforts, and, together with the EU, provide law enforcement 
training, intelligence and other support for the foreseeable 
future. 
 
 
***************************************** 
Visit Embassy Rabat's Classified Website; 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/rabat 
***************************************** 
 
Riley