European Security and Media Reports Cite Morocco as Destination for Wanted Fugitives, Organised Crime Networks

A confidential note attributed to France’s Central Office for the Fight against Organised Crime, and reported by French media, places Morocco at the top of countries suspected of hosting fugitives wanted by French judicial authorities, ahead of several states traditionally considered safe havens.

The RTL radio station cited a document dated 4 May 2026, titled “Main countries hosting fugitives wanted by French justice,” which refers to 218 French nationals believed to be located or operating in Morocco. The note is said to be based on an analysis of more than 3,600 Interpol red notices via the I-24/7 platform, alongside tracking of escape routes and preferred destinations used by fugitives.

According to the document, French authorities assess that recent shifts in organised crime structures have enabled high-level criminals to manage illicit operations from abroad “in near-total discretion,” with the arrest of fugitives described as a “strategic priority” in confronting escalating drug trafficking and cross-border criminal networks.

The figures cited in the note indicate that 49% of cases linked to individuals located in Morocco concern drug trafficking, 27% organised crime, and 11% economic and financial offences, reflecting what observers describe as operational patterns of criminal networks active from or transiting through Moroccan territory.

In parallel, Norwegian media reports have highlighted the case of a fugitive wanted since 2017 for drug trafficking and financial crimes, who is said to have fled to Morocco and settled in Tangier, where he is reported to continue managing a transnational criminal network operating between Europe and North Africa.

Norwegian investigations cited in media reports link the network to large-scale cocaine and cannabis trafficking between 2020 and 2022, with estimated annual revenues exceeding €64 million and total proceeds reaching approximately €230 million since 2020.

Authorities in Norway describe the individual as the mastermind of the “Krebus” criminal network, involving family members and international trafficking groups engaged in drug trafficking and money laundering, according to the same sources.

The successive reports have placed renewed scrutiny on Morocco’s official narrative of security cooperation and counter-narcotics efforts, amid repeated references in European reporting to the presence of internationally wanted individuals operating within its territory.

While Rabat and Paris maintain formal judicial and security cooperation agreements, particularly in counter-narcotics, terrorism and financial crime, the documents and reports cited suggest, according to analysts referenced in the coverage, a widening gap between official discourse and operational realities on the ground.

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