The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, announced the dispatch of a “liaison magistrate” to the French Embassy in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to strengthen cooperation between the two countries in the fight against drug traffickers. . A number of French network heads are actually installed in Dubai.
Gérald Darmanin traveled to the Emirates on Wednesday to participate in a meeting of Interior Ministers of the International Security Alliance (ISA). During this trip, he spoke with the head of the Dubai police, with his Emirati counterpart and was received by President Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan (MBZ), added the ministry.
Cooperation that is slipping between the two countries
But it is above all on the delicate issue of tracking down drug traffickers based in Dubai that the minister was expected. Last March, he promised to visit the Emirates with the objective of “improving police and judicial cooperation” between the two countries.
There are currently a commissioner and two French police officers stationed in the UAE but no liaison magistrate. The Minister of Justice will soon rectify the situation, the minister said during his trip.
Aim for “unassailable procedures”
He argued that “the excellent cooperation between the French and Emirati police made it possible to arrest dozens of people and put people out of harm’s way who order drug containers on the world’s seas and who launder money. money “. But, continued Gérald Darmanin, quoted by his entourage, “it is more complicated, for reasons which relate to the functioning of justice in our two countries, to obtain their extraditions to France. This is what we are working on with our Emirati partners and friends.”
At the ministry, we insisted on the importance of carrying out arrests and “putting the traffickers out of harm’s way” who, from Dubai, “supply France and Europe with drugs”. But, it was added, “before arresting someone, the procedure must be unassailable”. “It is also in the interest of the Emirates because it is not good for Dubai to have a bad reputation,” added a source close to the matter.
The extradition of Moufide Bouchib, the exception?
At the beginning of July, an intelligence note from Ofast, an office dedicated to the fight against drug trafficking, revealed by The Obs, had sounded the alarm about a lack of cooperation between Emirati justice and France.
“To date, none of these drug traffickers (arrested) has been extradited to our country and several procedures against particularly active and dangerous individuals have even been abandoned by the Emirati authorities, citing in support of their decisions more or less fallacious pretexts”, noted the editors of the note, cited by The Obs.
With the exception of Moufide Bouchibi, considered one of the most important French cannabis traffickers. He was arrested in March 2021 in Dubai, then extradited. He was sentenced in February 2022 by the Bordeaux Court of Appeal to eighteen years in prison with a two-thirds security sentence.