This is not the first time a police inspector had to withdraw their service weapon to arrest violators of the state of emergency.
Rabat – A police inspector in the southern city of Ouarzazate fired a warning shot today with his service weapon to stop a driver breaking through a checkpoint.
The suspect was a stowaway transporter who tried to escape the police control point. He was transporting citizens four individuals for a sum of MAD 600 ($60) each.
According to the General Directorate of National Security (DGSN), the driver inflicted material losses on three police vehicles when he tried to plow through them, and also exposed national security personnel to a serious threat before the bullet was fired.
The driver and four passengers were placed in police custody pending the judicial investigation, which will be conducted under the supervision of the competent public prosecutor’s office, reported the same source.
This is not the first time a police inspector had to withdraw a service weapon to arrest violators during Morocco’s COVID-19 state of health emergency.
On May 5, a police chief inspector used his weapon against six individuals in the city of Kenitra for violating the state of emergency. The suspects were carrying knives and faced assault and battery charges.
On March 29, a police inspector in the city of Temara, a suburb of Rabat, used his weapon to arrest a state of emergency violator who threatened police patrol members with fragments of a glass bottle.
Morocco entered a state of emergency on March 20 to limit the movement of citizens and residents and contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. After announcing a one-month extension, the lockdown is now scheduled to end on May 20
Since the state began enforcing the nationwide lockdown, Morocco has cracked down on violations of the measures designed to prevent the spread of the virus.
Under Law 2.20.292, those charged with violating the official measures of the state of emergency will receive a sentence ranging from one to three months in prison and a fine of MAD 300 to MAD 1,300 ($30 to $132).
