Looting of the sand: a parliamentarian caught hand in the bag

Booth 360. The Quarries Police seized machinery belonging to a WFP parliamentarian. The case is before the courts and the deputy risks a heavy fine. Details in this press review from the daily Al Akhbar.

In the vicinity of Taza, trucks and public works machinery, property of a parliamentarian from the region, were intercepted in the middle of a sand looting operation. According to the daily Al Akhbar which reports the information in its edition of the weekend of September 10 and 11, the Quarries Police, which comes under the Ministry of Equipment, fell, during a routine inspection tour, on these machines in mining sand in an unauthorized quarry in Mkansa commune, outside the town.

A report has been drawn up, continues the daily, and has been sent to the prosecution. Quoting sources from the Quarries Police Brigade which noted the offence, the daily affirms that the facts took place last Tuesday and, following verification, it turned out that these trucks and other sand extraction machines are in fact the property of a company belonging to a parliamentarian from the PAM, who is also president of the council of the town of Taza.

Once the Public Prosecutor’s Office received the violation report, it immediately ordered the seizure of the devices in question. Mission carried out by the Royal Gendarmerie. The seizure operation has so far focused on a truck and an excavator. The parliamentarian in question, says the daily, must answer before the court of first instance for the offense of illicit exploitation of a sand quarry.

After inspecting the premises, the Quarries Police found that the illegally extracted sand is used in public works sites opened in the region. She estimated the volume of sand extracted at more than 900 cubic meters, in a quarry 2 meters deep, 30 meters long and 15 meters wide. The parliamentarian does not risk, of course, prison, but he must certainly go to the cash register.

Indeed, according to the daily, which cites article 56 of the law relating to quarries, any person who operates a quarry without a declaration of exploitation is liable to a fine of 100,000 dirhams to 200,000 dirhams. And in case of recidivism, the amount of the fine increases to 500,000 dirhams and can even reach one million dirhams.

Furthermore, the court may order the confiscation, for the benefit of the State, of the materials and equipment used by the operator in the quarry. In addition, the court orders the offender to redevelop the site of the quarry in violation of the law, at his expense, within a fixed period. A penalty payment, the rate of which is fixed by the court for each day of delay, is even provided for in the event of this period being exceeded.

To believe Al Akhbar, illegal sand quarrying is a common phenomenon in the Taza region. And we often find behind this practice, people in high places or local dignitaries, more generally individuals who consider themselves above the law. The most serious thing in this situation is that the materials extracted are used in public works sites opened and financed by the elected councils, mainly in roads and roads. Which according to the daily requires the immediate opening of an investigation.