Child Abduction in Morocco: Student Kidnapped, Drugged, and Released After Blood Taken

The kidnapping took place this week. After leaving the college, a student was kidnapped before being drugged and taken unconscious by the kidnapper. According to local sources, the kidnapper, whose identity remains unknown, took quantities of the child’s blood in an isolated place before releasing him. The student then returned home. His family had in the meantime reported his kidnapping to the Royal Gendarmerie. The latter is conducting an investigation to shed light on this case. According to the family, the child did not suffer any physical or sexual assault. Relying on this statement, the residents have also hypothesized that the kidnapper may have acted for the purposes of witchcraft or magic. They suspect him of belonging to gangs seeking treasures using the blood of "zouhri children" in their beliefs. Ibrahim Razkou, president of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights, Zagora section, who claims that the "phenomenon of child abduction has spread over the past ten years throughout the territory of the Drâa-Tafilalet region, and in the southeastern region in general" does not share this view.

In a statement to the Al3omk website, Razkou believes that it should not always be thought that the kidnapping of children is intended to use them in magic, witchcraft rituals or in the search for treasures in isolated areas, under tombs and shrines. Gangs could kidnap them "in order to sell their organs or use them as shepherds in areas very far from their place of residence," he stressed. Faced with the repetition of this phenomenon, he calls for "activating an early warning mechanism when any such phenomenon occurs, since this mechanism concerns not only natural disasters, but also disasters that threaten human security, such as the kidnapping of children."

In March, the General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) had launched, in partnership with "Meta", owner of Facebook, the "Missing Child" system, a system related to this early warning mechanism, in order to help find missing children reported or missing children under mysterious circumstances. The president of the Zagora section of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights also relies on the involvement of educational institutions, asking them to organize awareness-raising sessions for students "on this subject, in order to avoid being tempted in any way."