Newspaper article 17, Contraband Modern in the Fes Medina

INHABITANTS FROM AL HOCEIMA: SMUGGLED PRODUCTS FROM MELILLA ARE OF HIGHER QUALITY THAN THE LOCAL ONES

By Jamal Elfiguigui

Alarbi Belbchir, the regional customs director of the north eastern region, considers the quantities of the seized products from Algiers as a more serious problem than the ones from Mellila. During an interview, Alarbi declared that there were about 7810 cases in this region related to contraband and causing more than 33 million dirhams of financial losses to the economy the previous year. Markets and commercial complexes in Nador knew high levels of illegal distribution of Spanish products (foodstuffs and electronic equipments). There is a great thriving business of smuggled products in "Wlad Mimoun" market and the commercial complex from where a lot of inhabitants buy these cheap goods of high quality. The sale of foodstuffs increases during religious feasts and Ramadan. The majority of the inhabitants from Nador and the neighbouring region insist that smuggled Spanish products are not dangerous as they all have date of expiry labels. Butter, juice, conserved milk, honey, cheese and "mortadella" are the most bought products by consumers who sometimes do not care about their date of expiry labels; however some smugglers confess that they verify the date of expiry and sometimes they just avoid products with no date of expiry labels. Even some Spanish citizens from Mellila cross the frontiers through Bninsar to go to Nador to shop, so how could Moroccans refuse these products at low prices and of high quality? Red cheese, chocolate, dry fruits, rice and conserved fishes are the cheapest products. No one has witnessed any danger in consuming them and consumers insist that it is just a matter of verifying their date of expiry labels. Nador has become a centre of shopping for Moroccans all over the country.

Translated by Sakina Elkhattabi