Three Moroccan Suspects Detained for Street Fraud in French Town

Assisted by four students, the elements of the anti-crime brigade managed to arrest three Moroccans from Casablanca and living in Brussels, Mons and Charleroi on Wednesday, June 22 "following a fanciful chase", reports Centre presse. During a hearing of immediate appearance before the Poitiers Criminal Court, the judge ordered the pre-trial detention of Saadia, 53, Adil, 49, and Mustapha, 55, at the Poitiers Vivonne Penitentiary Center, in order to avoid any "risk of repeat offense." "They were arrested thanks to a combination of circumstances, he says. They are particularly mobile, they stole 5,000 euros in two days not counting the planned resale of the jewelry. They are known and implicated in various cases." The trial was postponed to the beginning of July to allow the alleged scammers to prepare their defense.

The victims of this "Samaoui" scam, a fraud using hypnosis, are three women aged 57, 62 and 64. Widows and of Algerian nationality, they live in the Ozon plain, in Châtellerault. Adil, with a shaved head, approached these women in the street. "He asked where the new mosque was. And then the woman arrived dressed in a jilbeb limping with a cane. He told her her future in front of me. She pretended to be surprised and trembling," recounts one of them. The alleged scammer then forced the victim to bring him money and jewelry to her home.

The hypnosis works: one victim gave him 2,000 euros, another 2,400 euros, the third victim 200 euros (he also asked to withdraw 500 more euros from the bank), as well as gold jewelry.