He's been Spain's Most Wanted for years — and now leads a new list of Europe's Most Wanted
gangsters. He runs but he doesn't hide. His offence, police say, is running an organization
landing eight tons of hashish almost every day, supplying half of Europe. And he's known
as the "Lionel Messi of Hashish," named after one of the greatest footballers of all time
The Mob Reporter here with news of a fresh wave of heat on the hashish king, a 38-year-
old Moroccan wanted in Spain, where he's lived most his life, and where his big smile loads of
dough, love of soccer and wild exploits seize the public's attention. Let me tell you about it
Europe's Most Wanted list of fugitive gangsters for 2022 was released last week by Europol, the
European police agency. It's a slick campaign seeking public help tracking them all down. More
than 50 new organized crime figures were added and I might deal with some others soon, but one of the
most interesting cats added to the list is this guy: Abdellah El Haj Sadek El Menbri is known as the
Messi of Hashish, after the famed athlete. Police consider El Haj the most significant hashish
smuggler in southern Europe, sitting stop the largest trafficking network in Spain, responsible
for supplying half of Europe through high-powered speed boats crashing from North Africa into Europe
across the Strait of Gibraltar. That's the narrow entrance to the Mediterranean Sea
from the Atlantic Ocean, where Europe's south coast is less than nine miles from Africa's north coast
Spain on one side and Morocco on the other. These multi-engine power boats can whip across
it in minutes. Police say El Haj is a master at it. Of course, he wasn't at the wheel but
police say his vast organization was crossing back and forth several times a day carrying one
ton, two tons, three tons each trip. Messi's name was even stamped on some of the bricks
El Haj's nickname of the Messi of Hashish is in honor of Lionel Messi, the Argentinian forward who
played for years in Spain. For those not familiar with European football — I guess meaning those who
only call it soccer — then know this: saying someone is the Lionel Messi of something is like being the
Tom Brady of football, or the Wayne Gretzky of hockey; the Michael Jordan of basketball — well
this is fun let's do some more — the Donald Bradman of cricket, the Serena Williams of tennis, Babe Ruth
of baseball, Richie McCaw of rugby... okay that's probably enough. El Haj was born poor in 1983 in
Tangier on Morocco's northwestern coast. He moved with his family to Spain when he was a child and
grew up on the Spanish coast in Algeciras with his mother and four siblings. Now, his nickname is
only partly from having high proficiency in a field. It's also because he is mad keen about
European football and an avid player who shows his passion for the sport and for Messi with selfies
on social media, sometimes wearing Messi's iconic number 10 jersey from his years playing with FC
Barcelona. He loves the game and the players in it, even nurturing a minor connection to Sergio Ramos
Messi's longtime rival on Real Madrid. El Haj posts selfies with famous movers and shakers of the game
He was a talented player himself in his youth. He played as a forward for ACD Saladillo and was
their top scorer in back-to-back seasons. That team was notorious for a game, in which El Haj
was playing, where almost every player on both sides was ejected from the game on a red card
after a huge brawl. But El Haj had climbed as high as he could in the sport. In 2009 after signing to
a higher third division team he was let go within weeks. By then, however, he was already distracted by
other interests. Once leaving the semi-professional leagues he instead bankrolled his own amateur team
in 2010, called El Pollo. El Haj was always the team captain, wearing the number 10 jersey. The
same year as a controversial release from jail in 2014 he scored double-digit goals
for El Pollo and they won the title in a league that included a team of national police officers
El Haj will never be remembered for his sports career, instead he is credited with
introducing the large-scale flood of hashish into Spain in brazen mass rushes across the sea
To meet demand, he hired others and as his underlings grew in the business they branched
out into their own clans with designated territory along the coast, with most remaining allied with
him. Despite his youth, he became a Godfather figure and that status made him Spain's Most Wanted man
Even so, police had him in their hands several times and each time he slipped away. He was arrested
in 2011 but managed to avoid jail. In 2014 he was arrested as he left a fine-looking hotel that had
apparently been his hangout in the Cádiz town of Los Barrios, where he rented a suite for an entire
year. Police seized his beloved yacht then, two of his cars, wads of cash, and arrested five associates
He was released from jail, according to published accounts, in return for giving authorities
information on jihadist activities along the coast, an area he was intimately familiar with
Once he was back on the street, police found his name seemed to be on the lips of almost
every trafficker they wired up. He seemed to know everyone and everyone knew him. He
had contacts "everywhere, even in Hell" someone told a reporter at El Mundo
Police came for him again in 2017, targeting him at his nightclub on the Algeciras Beach, popular
for its music, shisha, and belly dancers. Shortly before a concert by a famous Algerian singer was
scheduled to start, officers got word that El Haj had arrived and they swooped in. El Haj, though
could not be nabbed that night; a knife-wielding bodyguard delayed the cops. wounding two of them
while El Haj was whisked away and taken to Morocco that very night, in one of the boats
typically used to shuttle hash. Police had to settle for the seven tons of product they found
under guard in a chalet nearby, and six more tons found elsewhere. El Haj was eventually re-arrested
in November 2017, but this time it wasn't nearly as exciting. He returned to Spain voluntarily and
surrendered in a deal with prosecutors that he'd be released on bail pending trial. Still, there was
some drama. He climbed out of a luxury car in the police station with five of his underlings
who were also wanted, and all six went inside and surrendered together. In 2019, though, he changed
his mind and skipped out on his bail, fleeing Spain a second time. He cheekily announced his
departure by sending a letter to local newspapers saying he was disappearing for a while, blaming the
unrelenting police pressure and harassment, that he said was "unbearable." His timing, as usual, was
impeccable. Police were about to launch another round of arrests, this time for kidnapping and
murdering a man notorious for robbing narcos. Half of those arrested were among those who
had surrendered alongside El Haj to police. He is said now to be living a life of luxury in Morocco
His legal jeopardy, authorities say, has done little to deter him and his gang. They have
been a target of most significant anti-smuggling operations, raids, arrests, and seizures in the south
of Spain in the years since. In 2019, police rounded up 78 people linked to his network. Officers seized
more than six tons of hash, five high-powered speed boats valued at one and a half million euros, and
guns, including a submachine gun. Notably, police dismantled a gangland shipyard that built the
semi-rigid boats used for the frantic high-speed runs. That case started the year before when a ship
from Gibraltar rescued three people from a sinking boat in the Strait. The crew spotted a flotilla of
floating bales that had been thrown overboard to avoid being caught with it: 84 bundles of hashish
weighing two and a half tons were retrieved. In 2020 raids, another 8 tons and 22 vehicles were
seized. Police say they're used to collect the bales when they arrive on Spanish beaches. Dozens
of people were arrested. In 2021, police arrested 35 people including, they say, El Haj's right-hand man
The cops are circling, but El Haj seems immune, ensconced in his native country and making —
or buying — many friends. We'll have to see if pressure and attention from the new Europol
Wanted list can dislodge him. Please tap the new "Thanks" button under this video, or join me
on Patreon to help me out. As always, subscribe, like, and please comment. Thanks for watching