The city of Marseille, in the south of France, has just experienced its first robbery linked to the phenomenon of Algerian chocolate spread, El Mordjene. A trader who was looking for this increasingly rare product fell into a trap and was robbed.
To restock on this famous product, now banned in Europe, retailers in France are clearly ready to do anything, even if it means trusting dubious advertisements on social networks.
Despite its price being a little more expensive than the other brands of spread that dominate the French market, El Mordjene is undoubtedly one of the flagship products of this back-to-school season in France.
The incredible misadventure of a merchant, who went in search of El Mordjene paste
A victim of its own success, this Algerian product is now banned in France, after the last shipment sent from Algeria was blocked at the port of Marseille, for reasons which are apparently linked to the rules governing the entry of food products containing milk into the European Union.
This ban, which has not been officially announced in France or Algeria, has only increased the craze for this spread. Customers who have already tasted it or want to discover it are asking for more and retailers are doing everything they can to restock.
The stock shortages that have occurred repeatedly, even before the ban on importing this product, are likely to last a long time. On the remaining stocks in France, the price of a single jar of El Mordjene spread can reach up to more than €12, or more than DZD 2,900 in parallel exchange rate.
The El Mordjene phenomenon, which is supposed to inspire economic operators to think about marketing strategies adapted to the times, also seems to inspire criminals, who have not hesitated to ride the wave of success of this Algerian product.
Employee falls into an ambush and is robbed
On Friday, September 13, a Marseille-based trader thought he had found a way to restock pots of Algerian spread, when he responded to an advert offering large stocks of pots of El Mordjene spread.
Not wanting to miss this opportunity, he sent one of his employees to the address indicated, in the Valbarelle district, in the 11th arrondissement of Marseille, with a large sum of cash to settle the transaction, the local newspaper reported on Monday, September 16. Provence.
But when the 27-year-old employee arrived at the scene around 11 p.m., he discovered that it was a trap. The people who posted the ad invited him to go up to a building before holding him up with handguns.
They robbed him of the sum he had to pay for the agreed shipment of El Mordjene spread before letting him go. According to the same newspaper, the territorial crime division of the local police has opened an investigation into this robbery.
