Trial Begins for Associates of Franco-Moroccan Terrorist in 2018 Carcassonne Attack

Rzdouane Lakdim is a Franco-Moroccan born on April 11, 1992, in Taza, Morocco. Flagged S as early as 2014, he is known for common law offenses in the Ozanam district plagued by drug trafficking, reports La Dépêche du Midi. At the time, he was 22 years old. His religious radicalization did not disturb his immediate environment. A drift and an act facilitated "by his integration into the criminal association directing criminal activities in the Carcassonne neighborhoods," the anti-terrorism judges believe. He was a "paranoid" man who always had a knife on him, according to his former girlfriends. Redouane practiced boxing, a combat sport in vogue among aspiring jihadists. He forces his new girlfriend, Marine, to convert to Islam. His wish was to go to Syria, to fight against the West. He wanted to die a martyr.

When his family apartment, Cité Ozanam, in Carcassonne, was searched on the afternoon of March 23, 2018, the anti-terrorism police found two serrated long-bladed knives, a saber and ammunition and a small arsenal of weapons hidden in various rooms. The investigators also came across letters pledging allegiance to the Islamic State. According to the prosecution, the money from drug trafficking, contraband cigarettes and arms trafficking made it possible to finance his terrorist acts. Lakdim was convicted in 2011 and 2015 for weapons possession and drug trafficking.

His status as a delinquent allowed him for a time to escape justice, or even to divert the attention of the anti-terrorism police. They did not know that he had become radicalized and was preparing terrorist attacks. The Franco-Moroccan’s relations with Chechens in a local boxing club had alerted the intelligence agency (RI) antenna in Perpignan and the territorial intelligence (RT) police officers in Carcassonne. The latter followed him without suspecting his status as a terrorist.