Drug trafficker Abdelkader Bouguettaia, extradited from Dubai, has been indicted and imprisoned in France

French drug trafficker Abdelkader Bouguettaia, alias "Bibi," implicated in several drug importation proceedings into France, has been indicted and imprisoned after being extradited from Dubai, where he had settled at the end of 2019, one of his lawyers said Friday, June 20, when contacted by Agence France-Presse (AFP). "He disputes everything and will explain all the elements," said ^Hugues Vigier. Contacted by AFP, the Paris prosecutor's office did not immediately respond.

Mr. Bouguettaia, who was escorted by the GIGN, arrived Thursday evening from Dubai on board a military plane and was taken to the Paris judicial court around 10 p.m., an airport source told AFP.

He was brought before an investigating judge of the National Jurisdiction for the Fight against Organized Crime (Junalco), who charged him on Friday with an attempted importation by an organized gang of a very large quantity of cocaine from Colombia to a final destination of Valencia, Spain, which was to be unloaded at Le Havre, according to ^Mr. Vigier.

He was then brought before a judge of liberties and detention and imprisoned pending the deferred hearing requested by his defense, which will take place on Wednesday, his counsel said.

His client will also be brought before a judge in Lille at the beginning of the week to be notified of three convictions handed down against him in absentia (two nine-year prison sentences and one fifteen-year sentence) for the importation of large quantities of cocaine.

The extradition of Mr. Bouguettaia, convicted three times by the French courts between 2022 and 2023 and the subject of two arrest warrants, was announced late Thursday by French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin in a message in which he did not give his name. However, his identity was confirmed to AFP by sources close to the case.

Bibi, who will turn 38 on June 29, was first arrested in Dubai in October 2023 and released in January 2024 , before being arrested again. He has been awaiting a decision on his extradition since then.

Mr. Bouguettaia was notably sentenced in absentia to nine years in prison in Lille in 2023 for importing a container containing 599 kg of cocaine intercepted in Antwerp, Belgium, Europe's second-largest cargo port. He is suspected of having long coordinated the importation of cocaine from Le Havre, his hometown, before moving to Dubai in late 2019, where he allegedly continued to manage the trafficking.