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Rabat – Moroccan security services have arrested 30 suspects for their involvement in acts of extortion, threats, and trafficking of newborns in the city of Fez.
The arrests took place on Tuesday and Wednesday as part of a joint operation by the judicial police and the General Directorate of Territorial Surveillance (DGST).
The suspects include 18 security agents, a doctor, two nurses, healthcare professionals, and intermediaries, state media quoted a security source as saying.
Preliminary data from the investigation shows that individuals among the arrestees were acting as intermediaries in the sale of newborns in complicity with single mothers and in exchange for money.
They would then sell babies to families wishing to adopt abandoned children, the security source added.
According to the source, other suspects are presumed to be involved in acts of extortion against patients and their families in exchange for appointments for consultation, diagnosis, or visits, as well as intermediation in the illegal practice of abortion and the issuance of medical certificates containing false data.
Some of the arrested individuals are also involved in the forgery of medical consultation appointments, theft, and waste of medical supplies as well as their sale, among other criminal charges.
Searches carried out at the homes of some of the arrested security agents enabled police to seize prescription-only medications, medications that are not for sale, medical equipment, and money.
Police put all the arrested suspects in custody for further investigation to identify all criminal acts attributed to the suspects as well as to arrest possible accomplices involved in the crime.
