Moroccan Prosecutors, Judicial Police Move on ‘Atlas Hacks’ Leaks as Jerando Case Expands Across Borders
Moroccan prosecutors and the country’s National Brigade of Judicial Police (BNPJ) have opened a new investigative phase in the case surrounding Hicham Jerando following a series of leaks released by the “Atlas Hacks” group, which purport to expose his alleged links to drug traffickers, intermediaries and financial networks operating across Morocco, Turkey and Canada.
The leaked conversations and recordings, released over several episodes, point to a web of bargaining, negotiated arrangements, financial dealings and mutual leverage involving Jerando, drug traffickers and intermediaries. The material depicts relationships in which different actors allegedly sought to use one another for protection, influence, pressure against rivals, the removal or publication of damaging content, and other forms of reciprocal advantage.
Some of the exchanges also suggest a pattern of exploitation and counter-exploitation rather than a simple one-way relationship between a perpetrator and victims. Drug traffickers and intermediaries appear, according to the leaked material, to have sought Jerando’s digital reach and ability to target rivals, while Jerando allegedly used those same relationships to obtain money, access, information and intermediaries capable of facilitating transactions.
The leaks further contain references to payments and cross-border financial transfers, including funds allegedly routed from Morocco through intermediaries in Turkey before reaching Canada or other destinations. This financial dimension has become one of the central aspects now being examined by investigators.
The latest developments mark a significant shift in the case. What began as a series of digital disclosures is now being examined through formal criminal investigative procedures under the supervision of Morocco’s public prosecution authorities.
According to sources familiar with the case, Moroccan prosecutors have treated the “Atlas Hacks” material as information reporting potentially criminal conduct that requires verification by the judicial police. Investigators have therefore been tasked with checking the allegations, collecting evidence and identifying individuals who may have participated in, facilitated or benefited from the arrangements described in the leaked exchanges.
The BNPJ has begun questioning several individuals whose names appear in the recordings and conversations, including people currently held in Moroccan prisons. Investigators are seeking to establish the identities of the participants, determine the authenticity and context of the exchanges and compare the leaked material with statements provided by those concerned.
Sources close to the investigation said BNPJ officers travelled in recent days to several Moroccan prisons, including facilities in Fez, Casablanca and Nador, to interview individuals repeatedly mentioned in the “Atlas Hacks” leaks. The interviews were carried out on prosecutors’ instructions as part of a broader effort to reconstruct the relationships, transactions and agreements documented in the recordings.
The inquiry is also focusing on the nature of Jerando’s alleged dealings with figures linked to drug trafficking, as well as intermediaries and brokers who appear throughout the leaked conversations. Investigators are examining whether some of these actors served as contacts, facilitators, negotiators or financial intermediaries.
A major component of the investigation concerns the movement of money. According to sources familiar with the case, investigators are seeking to establish how funds connected to the various bargains, agreements and transactions documented in the leaks were transferred, including possible financial routes originating in Morocco and passing through Turkey before reaching Canada or other destinations.
Authorities are also working to identify individuals who may have received, handled or facilitated those payments, and to determine whether the financial flows reveal a broader structure connecting actors operating in different jurisdictions.
Some of the leaked exchanges contain allegations that go beyond online defamation or disputes over damaging content and may point to more serious forms of organized criminal cooperation. Investigators are therefore examining whether the relationships documented in the recordings formed part of a wider system in which drug traffickers, intermediaries and foreign-based actors exchanged services, information, money and leverage for their respective interests.
At this stage, these remain allegations under investigation. The judicial inquiry will have to establish which elements can be independently substantiated, the precise role played by each individual and what criminal classifications, if any, ultimately apply.
The cross-border nature of the case is also becoming increasingly important. Sources familiar with the investigation say Moroccan authorities are considering international judicial and law-enforcement cooperation mechanisms where individuals, financial flows or relevant evidence are located outside the country.
This could include international letters rogatory, allowing Moroccan judicial authorities to ask foreign counterparts to carry out investigative measures, obtain records, trace financial transactions or collect evidence in other jurisdictions. Where the legal requirements are met, international arrest procedures could also be pursued.
Cooperation through the International Criminal Police Organization, Interpol, may likewise become relevant if investigators establish that suspects, assets or evidence connected to the case are located abroad.
The international dimension is particularly significant because the “Atlas Hacks” material portrays the alleged activities not as isolated incidents but as a system of transactional relationships stretching across several jurisdictions. The references to drug traffickers, intermediaries, cross-border payments, negotiated arrangements and foreign-based actors are therefore central to the direction now being taken by the Moroccan investigation.
The leaks have consequently entered a markedly different phase. The question is no longer simply what the recordings appear to reveal, but what Moroccan prosecutors and the BNPJ can establish through testimony, financial tracing, technical investigation and international judicial cooperation.
The outcome of that process will determine whether the bargaining, reciprocal arrangements, financial dealings and cross-border relationships documented in the leaks amount to a wider organized-crime case and whether further prosecutions could follow in Morocco or abroad.