Rabat – The investigation into the lethal methanol poisoning incident in Sidi Allal Tazi has led to the arrest of more suspects, bringing the total to 12. The suspects appeared before an investigating judge today.
The arrests follow a tragic series of events in which a batch of ad hoc Mahia alcohol was tainted with a toxic level of methanol, claiming the lives of 16 people and hospitalizing at least 100 others.
Four more individuals appeared before the Attorney General at the Kenitra Court of Appeal last Sunday. They are being prosecuted while out on bail, SNRT News reported.
Seven of the newly arrested suspects are in preventive detention, including the main suspect who was apprehended in a village near the city of Khemisset, SNRT News quoted sources from the Royal Gendarmerie as saying.
The suspects were arrested by the National Judicial Research Brigade of the Royal Gendarmerie.
The report added that the main suspect is notorious in the area and has a criminal record related to selling drugs and homemade Mahia alcohol. He operates in several villages with the help of numerous “garraba.” (bootleggers).
Meanwhile, authorities are searching for another suspect believed to have supplied the methanol from another city.
The latest statement from the Regional Directorate of Health and Social Protection in the Rabat-Sale-Kenitra region reported that between 6 p.m. on Monday, June 3, and 8 p.m. on Wednesday, June 4, 114 cases of methanol poisoning were recorded in Sidi Allal Tazi. This was further confirmed by the Moroccan Poison Control and Pharmacovigilance Center in Rabat.
