French cocaine trafficker arrested Dubai after Casablanca escape

French police, supported by Emirati authorities, apprehended Ouicem Kattoursi on June 19. Originally from Sevran (Seine-Saint-Denis), this man in his forties has been the subject of an arrest warrant since 2023. According to Le Parisien, he is suspected of orchestrating a settling of scores linked to drug trafficking in La Courneuve in January 2017. Most importantly, the Anti-Narcotics Office (Ofast) considers him a major figure in cocaine imports into France, suspecting him in particular of overseeing from the Emirates a record seizure of two tonnes at Le Havre in December 2024.

On Bladi.net : French Drug Lord "Bibi" Extradited from Dubai: Major Blow to Cocaine Trafficking Network

This arrest in Dubai, where he had taken refuge, represents a major success for investigators. It is part of a context of strong judicial cooperation between Paris and the United Arab Emirates, which has already enabled the extradition of 17 drug traffickers in 2025. This operation ends a long criminal career that began in 2006, when Ouicem Kattoursi was running trafficking in the Basse district of Sevran and served as a relay with Spain.

On Bladi.net : Drug Kingpin "Bibi" Extradited: France’s Narco Crackdown Reaches Dubai

The trafficker’s past is indeed marked by a series of escapes. After an attempted escape during police custody in late 2007, he had taken advantage of a procedural flaw to disappear, thus avoiding his conviction in absentia to ten years in prison in October 2008. His fugitive period had taken him to Morocco, where he had been arrested for the first time in Casablanca on December 31, 2008. More recently, in 2023, he had narrowly escaped French justice during an arrest at Dubai airport: local authorities released him, arguing that the extradition request file transmitted by France was incomplete. A procedure is underway again to bring him back to French soil.