Salim Benyoubi, a trafficker and informer nicknamed “The Jackal”, sentenced two policemen to prison

Cops and thugs shared two days on the same bench at Marseille’s criminal court, confronting judges about breaching their status as police informants and, as the prosecutor said, “A surprising mix of genres and atypical personalities.” Two now-fired Paris-area police officers, Sonia Coquard, 45, and Soufia Ouguauri, 43, were sentenced on Friday, April 12, to three years in prison, with one year suspended and three years in prison, respectively. In prison, including eighteen months of probation, the fixed part must be served at home with an electronic bracelet.

This guilty verdict – short of the three years requested by the prosecution – specifically for misappropriation of police files, is sanctioned by their close relationship with Salim Benyoub, nicknamed “The Jackal”. This drug trafficker, who was sentenced to life in prison in Algeria, was officially registered as an informant since 2012 with the Paris Banditry Repression Brigade and since 2014 with OCRTIS, the former central office for the fight against drugs.

In the early hours of March 16, 2018, 60 or 150 kg – we don’t know exactly – of cannabis resin and 100,000 ecstasy tablets stored in a box in Ermont (Val d’Oise) were stolen. Market value of cargo: EUR 400,000. Immediately, Salim Benyoub suspects that Murad B., one of his old friends, stole the address of the box. He never stops tracking her down and finding her, which, in fairness, is helped by his police friends, whom he asks to extract information from police files.

Phased implementation

“Jackal” takes a commando in Marseille when he learns that Murad B. is hiding there. On the night of June 6-7, 2018, this 53-year-old Lyonne was kidnapped, thrown into the trunk of a car, before being beaten in the basement of his Marseille residence, where his execution took place. He is eventually released and runs away with a bruise to file a complaint. Four members of the commando were sentenced to seven years in prison for the organizer of the punitive expedition to three years, one of which was suspended for the driver of the car.

Salim Benyoub, who now runs a small hairdresser in Meknes (Morocco), was sentenced to nine years in prison and, in his absence at the trial, the court issued an arrest warrant. The real owner of this case, the head of the punitive expedition called him the sponsor, who promised him 100,000 euros to recover the drugs and “destroy” the victim.