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Rabat – Casablanca police arrested on Saturday three suspects for alleged kidnapping and forcible confinement for ransom.
A statement from the General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) said that the suspects kidnapped the alleged victim as part of “a settling of scores” linked to drug trafficking.
Morocco’s judicial police arrested the three suspects in coordination with their counterparts in Mohammedia, Casablanca’s twin city, and members of the Royal Gendarmerie.
The suspects have multiple criminal records.
The arrest comes after Casablanca police received a complaint from a woman who claimed her 24-year-old son had been kidnapped by several people in a car.
Searches and investigations showed that the victim was the subject of several notices for the trafficking of alcoholic beverages without authorization.
The victim had agreed to deliver a “quantity of psychotropic tablets to the main suspect in return for MAD 15,000, but the person concerned received the money without providing the requested drugs,” the DGSN explained.
One of the defendants and his accomplices kidnapped the man, asking his family to pay them the amount he had received for the drug shipment.
The main suspect in the kidnapping case was the subject of several search notices by the Royal Gendarmerie services for trafficking psychotic drugs.
DGSN’s 2019 report said that Morocco’s focus on pursuing warrants enabled police to arrest 130,680 people wanted for different crimes.
Police arrested approximately 12% more people in 2019 than 2018, arrested 5% more minors, and heard 3% more complaints from victims of crimes.
Violent crimes, such as serious robberies and sexual assaults, represent 8% of the general crime rate in Morocco.
The DGSN said that violent crime in Morocco saw a significant decrease of 8.6% in 2019 compared to the year prior.
Deadly assault decreased by 11.2%, indecent assault by 10.2%, theft by 3.4%, armed robbery by 21%, and vehicle theft by 7.8%, DGSN noted.
