Criminal Gang Targeting Ride-Share Drivers Faces Trial in Morocco

The members of this dangerous criminal network, which spread terror on the Bouznika-Témara, Rabat, Salé-Kénitra axis, are being prosecuted for various crimes. While six of them are accused of "premeditated murder, criminal atrocities, kidnapping, attempted murder, criminal gang formation, aggravated theft, sequestration, intentional assault and battery, and voluntary violence resulting in permanent disability," three others are being prosecuted for "receiving stolen goods, modifying a crime scene, and usurping vehicle registration plates," reports Assabah.

"The members of this dangerous criminal gang were neutralized thanks to coordination between the judicial police services of Témara, the elements of the Royal Gendarmerie of Aïn Atiq, El Mansouria, Sidi Bettache, Ain El-Aouda, Benslimane, Skhirat and the police of Kénitra," sources told the daily. The criminal network had a very specific modus operandi: a member of the gang would contact "the driver of the car via the inDrive app, and indicate his destination, before surprising him by strangling him, usually in a deserted area, brutally assaulting him fatally, relieving him of all his belongings, and then throwing him into the forest."

According to a victim interviewed by the investigating judge during the thorough investigation of this case, "the members of this gang had called him to transport them from the Avenue des FAR in Témara to Skhirat, before surprising him at the Souk El Arbiaâ in Aïn Atiq. One of the criminals jumped on the car’s ignition key and the other sprayed him with tear gas." The driver added that he was then "placed in the trunk of the car before being thrown near a construction site, near the El Attaouia douar, in Bouznika." Six other victims recounted similar facts, the same sources inform.

The search carried out at the home of two members of the gang in Skhirat led to the seizure of several items, including badges from the Cherifian Office of Phosphates (OCP). Investigators also discovered that this criminal network is behind the death of an employee of this structure, whose body had been found between Tamesna and Sidi Bettache.