Newspaper article 12, Contraband Modern in the Fes Medina

CONTRABAND PRODUCTS "TIME BOMBS " THREATENS THE NATIONAL ECONOMY

By Hamid Alabiad
Assabah, No. 1517, February 21, 2005

Consumers of contraband products are not aware of the danger to their health and effects on commercial activities.

There is a great high-scale distribution of contraband products in Fez and Tawnat markets, these latter have gone beyond the black markets to become well organised. The two Moroccan cities have markets that disseminate such products despite the danger to citizens’ health. Besides this, there are pavements and the margins of the weekly markets which know a great thriving business of smuggled products by Moroccan immigrants’ cars that are unloaded on the margins of the official markets.

Most of Moroccan consumers are not conscious of the smuggled products’ danger coming from the northern, western and southern regions for their health and the national economy; this is because of the lower prices of these products that renders their quality and expiry date labels unimportant; because in a sense it suits the economic status of most Moroccans; this can be explained by the Moroccan saying “he saw the bread and ignored its contents”.

“We want cheap products, we do not care whether they are from Casa or outside” says a Moroccan from Tawnat; he argues that he is consuming such products because “if there were no smuggled products and flea markets he would have died of hunger and been naked”. He thinks that not all Moroccans can afford buying goods at a higher price since there are people who depend on them economically. He adds that he can buy clothes for himself and his children for just two thousand dirhams.

Though Abderahim, a primary school teacher, is aware of the smuggled products’ danger, he consumes them because of their lower prices that suit the majority of Moroccans who can hardly maintain their families. He insists that he knows a lot of working people and official authorities with average incomes who consume these products despite their awareness of the dangerous consequences of the smuggled products over the national economy. He says that these people are just applying the Moroccan saying: “what is permitted for me is forbidden for you”.

Abdellilah who has a decent wage has a different opinion from his two colleagues, considering that smuggling should be fought by the Moroccan government as to avoid its dangers; to achieve this, he suggests to find a social solution for the ones who practise this activity by organising campaigns as well as encourage the national economy to be able to compete. He insists that the consumer should not be seduced by the price because he knows many people who have been victims of consuming smuggled products.
As to Fatima who lives in Fez, she is used to smuggling alimentation products and clothes from Souk Larbaa, Nador and Tawrirt markets, she considers smuggling as a good breadwinning proposition and she does not care about its danger. She justifies this by her responsibility to maintain her seven unemployed children; she even adds that the smuggled goods are of better quality than the national ones but one would have to just check their expiry date labels.

Fatima does not find any explanation for the seizure of contraband products and the police raids that she and her colleagues face, she adds: “Moroccan authorities are unable to stop this activity, so why are we paying for this?”; Fatima prefers contraband products than the ones made in Casablanca. To stop this phenomenon, Fatima suggests that alternative employment be found for the ones who practise smuggling and Moroccan products be made with good qualities and prices.

Hamid refuses to stop smuggling goods from the Northern area, because “it yields money”, even though his goods have very often been seized; he insists to continue adventuring since it is the only way to gain his living.

All these have made the consumption of the smuggled products a daily reality, permitted under the shadow of the threat to the national economy. The diversity and cheap prices of the products contribute to their huge consumption ignoring their danger as “addictions”, the chaotic modes of sale and the lack of hygiene; we can find foodstuffs lying open next to the insecticides and detergents.

Some people practise contraband as an alternative to unemployment, others consider it as an easier job to get money; there are also the ones who consider it as a source of wealth and power within society; they know that it is dangerous and its risk can only be taken by adventurous people who can face its difficulties, especially police raids. In this way they are careless about its dangers to national health and economy.

The Moroccan eastern region is the major source of the smuggling products for the northern middle region; this is because of the great flow of Algerian contraband products. Algeria has become a powerful market competing with Spanish products especially when the frontiers with Mellila were closed.

Translated by Sakina Elkhattabi