Mohamed Jamil Derbah will not be able to leave Tenerife after being granted provisional release upon his appeal being upheld by the Provincial Court of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The Lebanese businessman and investor, detained along with seven others for allegedly leading a criminal organization involved in drug trafficking, money laundering, document forgery, and bribery based in southern Tenerife, had to pay a bail of 100,000 euros for this provisional release. Additionally, the Sixth Section of the Provincial Court, which issued this order on May 29, requires the businessman to appear weekly and whenever called by judicial authorities to sign at the court (whether it’s the investigating body or any other), and has revoked his passports if there are multiple.
The Provincial Court believes that the flight risk has significantly decreased given Mohamed Derbah’s “personal, family, social, and professional” ties to Tenerife, where he has lived for over 30 years with his wife and children and operates as a self-employed worker with businesses. Moreover, it notes that no large quantities of drugs suggesting large-scale trafficking were seized during the searches, thus mitigating the perceived severity of this particular crime.
This order counters the arguments presented in early May by the Investigating Court No. 3 of Arona, which at the request of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, issued a detention order against the businessman (the only one jailed out of the eight investigated in this case). In this regard, the Provincial Court states, concerning the possibility of him obstructing the case, that “most of the investigative actions have been carried out except for extracting data from the phones seized from the suspects.”
At the time of his arrest, Mohamed Jamil Derbah had a briefcase with 19,543 euros and 1,180 Turkish lira, in addition to several passports, Senegalese identity cards, and Special Advisor cards to the Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau. He stated in court that the money was intended to pay his workers.
Investigation
Lebanese investor Mohamed Derbah, considered the leader of the main mafia clan in Tenerife, has been on provisional release since Thursday evening after a decision by the Provincial Court that upheld an appeal against the unconditional detention order decreed by Carmen Rosa Pino Abrante, the judge of Court No. 3 of Arona who is handling the case. In an operation against organized crime led by the Internal Affairs unit of the National Police, Derbah was arrested on April 30 along with seven others, two of whom were police leaders, accused of drug trafficking, money laundering, document forgery, and bribery. The network also involves the former chief of the Judicial Brigade and the Drug and Organized Crime Unit of the National Police on the island, Francisco Moar.
Derbah, the only one of the suspects sent to Tenerife prison at the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s request, had had support from state security services in recent years. To high-ranking intelligence and information officials, Derbah—considered the main leader of the largest active criminal organization in Tenerife—provided key information, especially related to jihadist groups and networks dedicated to illegal immigration.
Since May 2024, Derbah served as special advisor to the Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau on governance and international cooperation issues. It should be noted that Guinea-Bissau is recognized as a narco-state, used by Mexican and Colombian cartels as a strategic base for shipping drugs from America to Europe.
Meeting with Matos
On January 28, Mohamed Derbah arranged a meeting at the El Corte Inglés café in Santa Cruz de Tenerife with Gustavo Matos, former president and second president of the Canary Islands Parliament. The goal was to seek his mediation with the Government Delegation and Sub-delegation to halt inspections by the National Police in cannabis clubs controlled by a mafia clan, especially in southern Tenerife, in areas like Costa Adeje and Playa de las Américas.
Matos reported this situation to the Deputy Government Delegate in Tenerife, Jesús Javier Plata Vera, who had also previously held an official meeting in his office with Mohamed Derbah. An investigation by the Internal Affairs unit of the National Police determined that these cannabis clubs, over a hundred of which have already been shut down, actually served as a front for the criminal organization’s illegal activities, which included the distribution of cocaine and heroin.
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