A Moroccan man who managed to escape the clutches of police in May and is known as the “Messi of Hashish” has been caught in Algeciras – in the Campo de Gibraltar area of Spain.
Caught by the Spanish Guardia Civil, Abdellah El Haj, is accused of trafficking marijuana through the Strait of Gibraltar to Spain.
According to Spanish press, he is known as the ‘Messi of Hashish’ due to the photos he posts on social media with Messi’s Argentinian football shirt. Parallels have also been made with the Barcelona football star, Lionel Messi, due to the amount of power and connections El Haj appeared to have. Apparently he seems to have been caught out on the ball this time though.
In May this year, 19 of his reported fellow drug traffickers were arrested in the Campo de Gibraltar region, but Abdellah El Haj managed to flee to Morocco.
The crackdown in the Gibraltar area is ongoing and during their searches, the police also took control of 13 tonnes of marijuana, 9mm pistols and a shotgun.
The recently captured fugitive was able to dodge the police operation back in May by fleeing the bar he was in and taking a getaway vehicle which had been left there intentionally.