Royal Gendarmerie : 29 officers arrested for their alleged involvement in the Marrakech shooting

29 high-ranking officers, including five colonels from the Moroccan Royal Gendarmerie were arrested on Tuesday, 23rd of January. According to Wednesday’s issue of Assabah, a daily Arabic-language newspaper, the officials are accused of corruption, disclosing confidential information, participating to an international drug trafficking network and being involved in the assassination of an individual in Marrakech, referring to La Crème shooting in November.

According to the local newspaper, the suspects were transferred to the local prison of El Arjat in Rabat, following the orders of the investigating judge in charge of financial crimes. Based on Assabah’s account that has been relayed be several media outlets, the officials used to serve before their arrest in Larache, Tangiers, Tetouan, Agadir, Settat and Marrakech.

Allegations related to Marrakech shooting

Meanwhile, a source close to the file and which required anonymity confirmed to Yabiladi that, indeed, 29 high-rank officers serving at the Royal Gendarmerie were arrested this week. «They are accused of collaborating with drug-trafficking networks and of being involved in the murder that occurred in Marrakech», added the same source, insisting that «colonels who held high-rank positions are among the arrested».

For the record, the two assailants who killed a man in Marrakech and injured two people in a shooting on the 2nd of November 2017 were arrested by the police. According to a communiqué issued at the time by the General Directorate for National Security (DGSN), the two hooded men who carried out the attack are Dutch nationals originally from the Dominican Republic and Suriname. Investigations revealed that the murders belonged to an international drug-trafficking network linked to smuggling, kidnapping and attempted murder.

On the other hand, on the 3rd of November, Six people were arrested in Casablanca over links to the murder. The owner of the coffee shop (crime scene) and his brother are among the arrested and they both were targeted by the killers.