WORLD NEWS: A drug trafficker linked to the DZ Mafia arrested in Spain after two years on the run
In a major development, the following story has emerged from the international scene.
Arrested just hours after being sentenced to 25 years in prison. Drug trafficker Walid Bara was arrested on Tuesday April 14 in Madrid, only shortly after his conviction in a trial at the Bouches-du-Rhône special assize court involving two alleged leaders of the DZ Mafia criminal gang. A joint operation by the Spanish and French police made it possible to arrest this 39-year-old from Marseillais, with a long history of delinquency, while the Aix-en-Provence Assize Court had just sentenced him to a 25-year prison sentence for his role in a double assassination against a backdrop of rivalries between drug traffickers. The fugitive, an alleged executive of the DZ Mafia, according to investigators, was the subject of four European arrest warrants “for homicide, drug trafficking and membership in a criminal organization, issued by the French authorities,” said the Spanish police in a press release. In Madrid, again according to the Spanish police, “he lived in isolation, avoiding all contact”, taking precautions “to avoid being found” and resorting to “multiple identities.” Arrested “in possession of false papers” While he had been on the run since 2024, his location is the result of an investigation by the national fugitive search brigade and the judicial police, a source close to the case said in France. Among the legal files in which he was sought was the “double homicide of Formula 1” tried for more than three weeks in Aix-en-Provence. Tried in his absence, Walid Bara was sentenced to one of the heaviest sentences, considered one of the sponsors of these two homicides committed in 2019, before the emergence of the DZ Mafia and its establishment in drug banditry. In the trial, punctuated by incidents, the judges pronounced the convictions of five men, including one of the alleged leaders of the criminal gang, Gabriel Ory, while another alleged leader of this drug trafficking cartel, Amine Oualane, benefited from an acquittal. When he was arrested, Walid Bara was “in possession of false papers, one of the identities he used” to escape the police, according to the Spanish police. The “high end of the spectrum” of drug trafficking in France According to French police sources, he is part of the “high end of the spectrum” of drug trafficking in France. His arrest also puts an end to a run that embarrassed the French authorities. Walid Bara, alias “le Fondu” – a youth nickname born on the football fields in allusion to a vigorously fought overweight – was arrested in 2021, while he was trying to have a passport reissued under a false identity at Brest town hall. Despite his indictment in four cases, including three settling of scores, he was able to benefit from a release due to a succession of procedural defects in May 2024. The daily La Provence also reported, at the end of 2024, his role as “boss” in drug trafficking established in the 15th arrondissement of Marseille. During the Aix-en-Provence trial, the accused all proclaimed their innocence and refuted their links with the DZ Mafia. The criminal gang that appeared in 2023 is a “hydra”, without a “clear hierarchy”, “a group of people who aggregate, people in prison and outside”, according to a highly placed police source. With AFP
The Bigger Picture:
This development could have far-reaching consequences for global politics in the months ahead.
The implications of this story extend beyond borders and could affect millions of people globally.
Stay tuned for more updates as this story continues to unfold.
Source: This article was originally published in another language by France 24 – Infos, news & actualités – L'information internationale en direct and has been translated and adapted for our global English-speaking audience. Read the original article here.