DR ‹ › Morocco has played a key role in two major US-led investigations targeting international criminal and terrorist networks, providing support in arrests, intelligence, and coordination. In the first case, a US federal jury convicted Antoine Kassis, a Lebanese-Syrian national, for his role in a narco-terrorism plot involving cocaine trafficking and arms deals with the Colombian ELN group. The investigation, led by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), relied on a wide international network, including Morocco. Authorities, notably the DGST and DGSN, provided what US officials described as «significant assistance» in the case, which uncovered a vast network trafficking drugs, weapons, and millions of dollars across several continents, according to a March 23 press release from the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. In a second case, Morocco played a direct operational role with the arrest and extradition of Kenyan national Elisha Odhiambo Asumo, a key suspect in an international arms trafficking network supplying military-grade weapons to the Mexican cartel CJNG, according to a March 20 press release. Asumo was arrested in Casablanca on April 8, 2025, before being extradited to the United States on March 11, where he appeared in federal court the following day. The network allegedly involved the supply of heavy weaponry, including rocket launchers and anti-aircraft systems, intended to facilitate large-scale cocaine trafficking to the US.
