Julien was arrested at the end of May at Ouarzazate airport in front of his partner and their son. His fault: having brought a drone, banned in Morocco. They denounce an excess of zeal.
Trapped. This is the feeling that Julien and Émilie feel after their misadventure in Morocco. Until then, the holidays of this couple from Nice had been successful: ” We only met charming people there.” Everything changed on the day of the return flight. In question? The drone discovered in their belongings. A forbidden object in the kingdom.
The scene dates back to April 29. Julien, 42, and Émilie, 38, arrive at Ouarzazate airport with their 4-year-old son. End of a week’s vacation. The little family’s eyes are filled with desert, oases and golden horizons.
Twice, Julien has filmed these splendid landscapes with the drone he has just bought in France. Their guide points out to him that it is forbidden. Julien didn’t know. On the way out, no one told them anything. He packs up his drone for the rest of the stay. “Our stupidity is not to have informed ourselves before leaving” , he concedes.
“Equivalent to custody”
Arrival at the airport. It’s past 5 p.m. The return flight to Marseilles takes off at 6:40 p.m. The family goes through the X-ray scanner. Suddenly, exclamations from the screening officers. “As soon as I passed on the other side, they got agitated saying: ‘ Drone, drone, drone!’, says Julien. They searched everything. They confiscated my passport. I was arrested at 5:15 p.m.”
Julien offers to show them the rare images captured by his drone. But his explanations remain in vain. Moroccan police do not mess with security. They want to verify his good faith. Direction the police station, upstairs.
Again, dialogue of the deaf. He was asked to sign “half a dozen reports in Arabic, without an interpreter” . He balks, then runs. “The only thing that obsesses me then is: ‘ Will I be able to take my plane with my wife and our son?'” Julien, like Émilie, believes that his rights have been violated. He is a lawyer in Monaco. She, a lawyer in Nice. They describe a situation ” equivalent to police custody” .
“Like in a movie”
18 hours. The minutes are signed. But the case is not settled. Two other police officers escort Julien out of the airport. “I leave under the eyes of my wife and my son, in front of passengers who open their eyes as big as marbles.” Direction: Ouarzazate police station.
Arrival in a building under construction. Person. “They take me to an office. Then another, says Julien. They try to take my fingerprints, but it doesn’t work. They then take a picture of me with a slate, like in a movie. I feel like to be a criminal on the run!”
Confused, Julien signs “everything that we [him] present, in the hope of not letting [his] wife and [son] son arrive alone in Marseille, at midnight, without knowing where the car is parked.” As soon as the photo is taken, we return quickly to the airport. The plane should have already taken off. Luckily he is late. And a “good Samaritan” gave Émilie and her son a hand. Julien “falls into their arms” .
Marked and revolted
The trio is relieved. But experienced. “The little one is traumatized” , confides Julien. Him too. Especially since this ” phantom procedure” left no material trace. Not even a receipt for his 1,000 euro drone. We did offer Julien to come back for him. But there is no question for him of returning to Morocco, and risking a new misadventure.
Julien and Émilie insist: they distinguish the Moroccan population from their authorities, “who clearly show zeal” . In times of diplomatic tensions between France and Morocco around the issuance of visas, they think “that French tourists serve as a bit of leverage” . That’s why they wanted to testify, even without exposing themselves too much. “So that it doesn’t happen to others.”
“It is totally forbidden to bring a drone into Moroccan territory (unless prior authorization for specific professional needs).”
The warning is included in the travel advice on the official France Diplomatie website. “The discovery of a drone in the luggage exposes its owner to a fine and the confiscation of the device by customs. The use of a drone in Morocco without authorization can give rise to legal proceedings.”
Contacted, the consular services in Marrakech recall this strict framework. “You have to declare it on arrival. If the object is prohibited, it is kept in exchange for a receipt, to allow it to be recovered on the day of departure.”
In this case, the tourists from Nice assure that the customs officers had seen the drone on their arrival, without complaining. “Each country has its own laws. It’s a question of national security, we temper at the French consulate. The customs services therefore carried out their investigation. By checking the memory card, they were able to see that it contained pictures without consequences.”
Other tourists have suffered a similar misfortune. Like this group from Charente-Maritime, blocked in Morocco last March with two drones. But the Moroccan authorities are not fixing the French, assures the consulate. “The regulations are the same for everyone. And in Morocco, the most numerous tourists are the French!”
