Morocco: Arrest of 3 ISIS-affiliated suspects, allegedly involved in homicide of police officer (DGSN)
Elements of the prefectural service of the Casablanca judicial police have arrested, on Wednesday, in close coordination with the national brigade of the judicial police and the General Directorate of Territorial Surveillance (DGST), three extremists affiliated to the terrorist organization Daech, for their alleged involvement in the intentional homicide of a policeman on duty, in the context of a terrorist project.
A statement from the Directorate General of National Security (DGSN) said that the security operations conducted simultaneously by the regional brigades of interventions, under the supervision of officers of the judicial police in charge of the investigation, resulted in the arrest of the two main suspects in Casablanca and in the Sidi Hrazem region, near Fez, while the third defendant was apprehended during a subsequent operation in Casablanca.
According to the initial investigation, the suspects have recently pledged allegiance to the alleged emir of Daesh and were planning to participate in a local terrorist project with the aim of seriously undermining public order, said the statement.
The three suspects had decided to attack a police officer in order to execute him and take his weapon with the intention of robbing a bank branch, whose location has been previously determined and the mode of attack defined, with the aim of grabbing the money from this criminal act, it added.
The early investigations have shown that the first two suspects were responsible for the execution of the police officer and the mutilation of his body. The suspects have captured the police officer at a traffic circle while he was performing a night shift.
They physically attacked him with a knife and stole his personal car and his service weapon, before burning his body in a rural area.
The search also revealed that the two suspects coordinated their act with the third accomplice, who shares the same extremist plans, with the aim of altering the clues of the crime and erasing the evidence by burning the victim’s vehicle.
The technical sweep operations and search procedures allowed the seizure of the bladed weapons used in this act and the recovery of the victim’s handcuffs and service gun, which was hidden in a safe place in Casablanca in order to use it in the completion of their terrorist project.
The three suspects were taken into custody and investigations will be carried on to elucidate the possible ramifications of this terrorist act and its links with international terrorist cells and organizations, identify alleged accomplices involved in this criminal act and determine the ins and outs of this case which cost the life of the police officer, while he was performing security services on the public highway, said the statement.
