By Victor Kanayo
A top Moroccan football administrator and President of Moroccan football club Wydad AC, Said Naciri, is reportedly facing charges for alleged drug trafficking, forgery of official documents and use of counterfeit cheques.
This was disclosed by his Lawyer who preferred to lay low, according to AFP.
Naciri is the owner of Wydad AC, the most successful club in Moroccan football, having won a record number of domestic titles as well as three continental CAF Champions League titles, the most recent of which came in 2022.
The report revealed that the 54-year-old Naciri was detained on the orders of a judge in Casablanca on several charges.
The charge against Naciri who is a member of the Authenticity and Modernity (PAM) political party, reports also said include ‘money laundering’.
The investigation was opened after a Malian man convicted in Morocco for drug trafficking, accused Naciri of criminal activity.
In 2022, an article in Jeune Afrique magazine said the Malian national was El Hadj Ahmed Ben Brahim, a drug lord who was sentenced in 2019 to 10 years in prison in an “international drug-trafficking” case.
The Lawyer said the investigation involved 25 defendants, 21 of whom are under arrest, including Abdenbi Bioui, the head of the regional council of Oujda province in the east and also a member of PAM.
Naciri is set to appear before an investigating judge for further questioning on January 25, 2023.
