Moroccan Officials Sentenced in Plot to Poison Dual Citizen During Election

It was the Court of Appeal of Safi that sentenced, last weekend, the former president of the municipal council of El Hanchane (province of Essaouira), the former vice-president of the provincial council of Essaouira, a cleaning lady and an ambulance driver to cumulative prison sentences of 85 years. The four defendants were prosecuted for attempted poisoning of a woman holding dual Moroccan-Swiss nationality, reports the daily Al Massae.

It all started with the complaint filed by the victim, specifying that she had discovered that the cleaning lady was trying to poison her with the complicity of the other defendants. The victim and her husband realized what was happening, due to their deteriorating health for no apparent reason. Another troubling reason is the categorical refusal of the cleaning lady to share meals with them.

This is how they decided to spy on her using a chip installed in her cell phone in order to record her communications. They were able to confirm their suspicions. Caught in the act, the cleaning lady did not hesitate to confess. She admitted to mixing food with toxic substances she bought from a herbalist. The information she provided allowed the gendarmerie to arrest the rest of the gang except the instigator.

It was during their interrogation that the two accused denounced the former president of the municipality of El Hanchane. He would have pushed them to poison the woman, citing electoral reasons. The victim would be for him, a serious candidate because of the charitable activities she was carrying out in the region and which were taken for an electoral pre-campaign. This led him to hatch this plan to get rid of her and give himself a chance to be re-elected. But for him, it will be a prison sentence of 20 years for attempted poisoning.