The case of the intentional homicide of a policeman in Casablanca is not a classic homicide. The preliminary investigation indeed reveals that this premeditated criminal act proceeds from a terrorist aim, in connection with what is happening in the Sahel region and whose perpetrators, having pledged allegiance to Daesh, planned to perpetrate further actions huge proportion.
The arrests of three individuals allegedly involved in the affair of theintentional homicide of a police officer in Casablanca reveal clues that go beyond the narrative of an ordinary homicide. The first elements of theinvestigation indicate that this crime does not present any personal character, that the individuals who premeditated it acted under the influence of terrorist motivations and that this assassination was only the first step in a terrorist project bien plus large.
No lead was to be excluded at the start of the investigation into the death of the police officer
The investigators responsible for investigating this case, the seriousness of which shocked national public opinion because of the abominable nature of the acts committed, did not rule out any leads. In fact, and as the director of the Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations (BCIJ), Haboub Charkaoui, no investigation hypothesis was to be issued at the start after the discovery of the policeman’s body, which let the investigators assume all leads, including the terrorist lead, given the modus operandi of this crime and the mutilation of the body by incineration as well as the seizure of the service weapon and the handcuffs of the murdered policeman. “However, it is clear from these facts and clues that this is an organized criminal act, involving at least two people,” noted Mr. Charkaoui.
Investigators confirm terrorist trail after arrests
The analysis of the testimonies delivered by dozens of people to the investigation team did not shed any light on this affair, underlines Mr. Charkaoui, who spoke at a press conference held Friday at the headquarters of BCIJ to update the media on developments in this case. Also, he continues, the elements of the technical and scientific police had to work on a wide variety of clues and traces on the scene of the crime, and the investigators proceeded to download and read several digital contents to identify the trajectory taken by the suspected persons as well as that taken by the victim’s car. From then on, and thanks to the efforts of the investigation team made up jointly of elements of the General Directorate of Territorial Surveillance (DGST) and the General Directorate of National Security (DGSN), a first individual has been identified, who was arrested in Casablanca, indicates the director of the BCIJ. Immediately afterwards, the location of the second suspect was located and he was arrested in the Sidi Hrazem area. While the third suspect was also arrested in Casablanca, says Mr. Charkaoui. And the director of the BCIJ to reveal that the terrorist motive was confirmed following these three arrests, as indicated in the press release from the DGSN. Indeed, and according to the information collected at this stage of the investigation, these three individuals have recently pledged allegiance to the terrorist group Daesh, he says.
The suspects planned to join Daesh camps in the Sahel
Still in the light of the first conclusions of the investigation, the director of the BCIJ reports that these three individuals intended to join the camps of Daesh in the Sahel region, but gave up doing so, for lack of means to finance their trip. “They then opted for an alternative path, that of perpetrating terrorist actions at the local level by targeting elements of the police and bank branches,” explains Mr. Charkaoui.
Lone wolves and rapid radicalization
It also emerges from the results of the ongoing investigation that these three individuals have only been impregnated with radical ideas for a short time and have only pledged allegiance to Daesh for a month and a half, underlines Mr. Charkaoui again. This, explains the director of the BCIJ, “supports the thesis of a radicalisation fast, especially given their low level of education. Moreover, the progress of the investigation proves that the three accused are inspired by the tactics and methods of individual terrorism to commit their crime. The progress of the investigation, Mr. Charkaoui again reveals, also establishes that these individuals acted with premeditation and that they had located a bank branch, carried out scouting raids in its surroundings and even prepared a plan to rob it and use the spoils of this operation to finance their terrorist activities.
The investigation is ongoing
As for the investigation, the director of the BCIJ declares that it is following its course. “At this point we can speak of a terrorist cell made up of three main suspects. It is the so-called emir of this cell, 31 years old, and a second main suspect, 37 years old, who carried out the actual execution of this crime of intentional homicide and the mutilation of the victim’s body. As for the third suspect, 50 years old, adds Mr. Charkaoui, he was in fact actively involved in modifying the scene of the crime and in destroying the evidence by setting fire to the car of the murdered policeman. This cell was therefore put out of harm’s way and the threat it represented for the safety of people and property was also neutralized, thanks to the efforts of the investigation group which succeeded in recovering the service weapon of the victim in addition to five stolen bullets, welcomes Mr. Charkaoui, assuring that “the ballistic expertise carried out in the laboratory of the technical and scientific police showed that this weapon was not used by these individuals”.
