Police in Marrakech arrested a 39-year-old man with a prior criminal record on Tuesday for allegedly extorting and threatening a foreign national using violence.
The arrest followed the monitoring of a video circulating on social media Monday evening, which appeared to show the suspect confronting and threatening the victim in the city’s historic medina.
Initial reports from the Marrakech Security Directorate indicated that authorities had not received any formal complaint or emergency call regarding the incident.
Despite the absence of a formal report, the video prompted a judicial investigation under the supervision of the public prosecutor.
Police identified the suspect, who had previous convictions including unlicensed tour guiding and assault.
He was apprehended in a rural area near Zmran on the outskirts of Marrakech and is currently in custody while investigators work to clarify the circumstances and motives behind the incident.
All claims circulating about the “arrest” of the aforementioned British citizen, his “deprivation of liberty, and his imprisonment,” are completely false and baseless.
The public prosecutor’s office handling the case has issued instructions to subject the individual to a judicial investigation, placing his phone at the disposal of the digital forensics laboratory to extract any digital content containing criminal elements, and ensuring he enjoys all legal guarantees during the investigation.