Two suspects opened fire on the police with heavy caliber weapons.
Rabat – A fight between two groups that police suspect are drug traffickers led to a face off with police early on Sunday, October 27, in Laayoune in southern Morocco.
The fight escalated and a house was set on fire, Morocco’s General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) said in a statement. The suspects also destroyed a third party’s property before police intervened and got the situation under control.
Two suspects fired on police with “heavy caliber weapons,” DGSN stated. Moroccan police fired a warning shot at the suspects as they tried to escape in a vehicle.
Police fired four warning shots in total. Maghreb Arab Press (MAP) reported that the incident led to the arrest of five suspects, all in their early to mid-20s. One of the suspects is a repeat offender.
After conducting a search, police also seized, according to MAP, “two vehicles, two knives, a shotgun bullet, two hoods, and two foreign license plates.”
Judicial investigators now have access to the five suspects, who are in custody, for further investigation.
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DGSN earlier announced four arrests in Laayoune on suspicion of drug trafficking. The arrests happened Saturday, the day before the fight broke out between two alleged drug trafficking groups.
In neither case did the DGSN report any seizures of drugs, but in both instances, police seized knives and license plates. During the incident on Saturday, Moroccan police also confiscated 1,000 liters of gasoline and 760 kilograms of counterfeit tobacco.
Last month, customs at Laayoune set on fire hundreds of boxes of contraband cigarettes, 1,480 liters of brandy, and a few dozen kilograms of cannabis resin and “kif” cannabis.
