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Imlil killings : The Swiss suspect was in direct contact with ISIS, says BCIJ director

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More details on the Swiss-Spanish national accused of having links with the killing of the two Scandinavian tourists near Imlil have been made public by the director of Morocco's Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation (BCIJ), Abdelhak Khiame.

Interviewed by Swiss newspaper 24 Heures and quoted by French-language newspaper Le Desk, the Swiss suspect was radicalized in Geneva after converting to Islam. According the same source, the Swiss national who also bears a Spanish citizenship is a 25-year-old father known by his initials (K. Z) who has been living in Morocco since 2015.

«He calls himself Abu Yahia or Abdulah (…) he first tried to join a Koranic school in the south of Morocco before moving to Marrakech», said BCIJ director.

«He moved closer to an imam who operates in an anarchic mosque in the suburbs of Marrakech. It was there where he met the jihadist cell emir involved in the Imlil murders (…) the latter was the one who beheaded one of the two victims», added Khiame.

According to BCIJ, the Swiss suspect converted to Islam in 2011 in a mosque near Geneva. He attended sermons delivered by two French imams. These two converts were expelled from Switzerland.

The Swiss man planned to join Syria but finally opted for a Muslim country. Reportedly, he hesitated between Algeria and Tunisia but finally chose Morocco, said Khiame.

«He converted his grandmother, two uncles and sister to Islam», the same source added.

The man is not directly involved in the murdering of the two Scandinavian tourists, said Le Desk, but knew the men who allegedly orchestrated the terror attack. «Together, they watched ISIS propaganda films», and he was in direct contact with ISIS members in Syria through telegram messaging.

The Swiss national was planning to plot terrorist acts in Morocco, targeting security services and tourists. He has even trained some of the cell’s members to use weapons and recruited sub-Saharan nationals.

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