French-Moroccan Fugitive Among Europe’s Most Wanted After Lyon Casino Murder

Farid Toloun is accused of having shot at two men who had just boarded a Laguna after an evening at the casino Le Lyon vert in Tassin-la-Demi-Lune on June 12, 2005 around 2:40 a.m. One of them died on the spot and the other is paralyzed for life. Having fled to Morocco before the opening of the trial in 2010 at the Rhône Assize Court, he was sentenced in absentia to 24 years in prison. Since then, he has remained untraceable, reports Le Progrès.

A search notice in his name was issued on Friday on the Europol website. Farid Toloun, described as "dangerous", is considered one of the leaders of a network of "determined and violent" robbers in the Lyon region in the 1990s. The native of Vaulx-en-Velin is said to have even opened fire several times on police officers, in France and abroad, to escape, the notice specifies.

"He did not hesitate to open fire on the law enforcement, during exchanges of fire with the police, particularly in September 1996. He was also involved in a shootout, with hostage-taking, in Germany," details Guillaume Lacashin, commissioner and head of the National Brigade for the Search of Fugitives (BNRF).