Félix Bingui, also known as “The Cat,” has been extradited from Morocco to France, where he is accused of leading the infamous Yoda drug gang in Marseille. This development has been celebrated by the French justice minister as a significant “victory against narco-crime.”
The 34-year-old French-Moroccan man has been linked to a violent drug trafficking conflict in France’s largest city, according to French media reports. Bingui was apprehended in Casablanca in March under a warrant issued by a Marseille judge, facing charges including “importation of drugs as part of an organised gang, criminal association and money laundering,” as reported by Le Parisien.
Morocco granted the extradition request last April after Bingui agreed to return to France. He arrived on Tuesday and is expected to appear before a Marseille court later this week. France’s Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin stated that Bingui “will now have to answer for his actions before the French justice system,” adding, “His extradition, made possible by the Moroccan authorities whom I sincerely thank, is a major step forward in the fight against drug trafficking.”
Bingui’s lawyer, Philippe Ohayon, expressed his hope that “the magistrates responsible for the case [would] approach the subject with serenity and complete independence, while respecting the rights of the defence.” Before the escalation of violence this year, Bingui frequently traveled between Marseille and Morocco, but he remained in Morocco after a turf war erupted between the Yoda gang and its rival, the DZ Mafia, in early 2023.
Authorities report that the two gangs accounted for 35 of the 49 drug-related homicides in Marseille during 2023. On Tuesday, local police and prosecutors revealed that deaths linked to drug trafficking had fallen to 24 last year. The decrease in what law enforcement refers to as “narco-homicides” has been attributed in part to “the victory of the DZ Mafia over the Yoda clan,” as noted by Marseille’s prosecutor, Nicolas Bessone.
In March, the French government initiated a nationwide crackdown on drug trafficking, with President Emmanuel Macron visiting one of Marseille’s most affected neighborhoods, La Castellane, as part of a comprehensive operation that resulted in numerous arrests.
