French Tourist Arrested in Morocco for Buying Stolen Museum Artifact

The Toulousain was going through the formalities before boarding when he was apprehended at Rabat airport. "He went to Morocco in early September for an inheritance issue. His return to Toulouse was scheduled for Thursday, November 11, but he never arrived," his partner Isabelle tells La Dépêche. "The authorities informed me on Friday morning. I was starting to worry because I had no news. He bought a mask that he found super beautiful from someone, without thinking badly. But it turned out that this mask had been stolen from the National Museum of Marrakech," she adds.

After his arrest, Sébastien, the Toulousain, was placed in custody at the Directorate General of National Security. Subjected to questioning, he explains to the agents that he was fascinated by the mask he ended up buying, without suspecting that it was a stolen object from the National Museum of Marrakech. For this imprudence, he will have to pay a fine of 2,600 euros. "If he doesn’t pay it, he faces two years in prison in Morocco," Isabelle, disoriented, specifies.

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"We don’t have such a sum. He didn’t have time to collect the inheritance for which he had gone there," she complains. The relatives of the accused then requested and obtained a delay to raise the amount. They have launched a crowdfunding campaign on social networks for this purpose. Meanwhile, the Toulousain will remain in detention.

"He has the right to call me for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. He’s really bad. I don’t know how long he’ll be able to hold out. He’s really not in good spirits. However, he tells me that he is being well treated," the defendant’s partner points out. The relatives of Sébastien are keeping their fingers crossed to obtain the required amount.