The Prosecutor of the Republic of Fez refers a “dangerous” criminal network to the Criminal Chamber
The Public Prosecutor at the Appeal Court of Fez used his legal powers under Article 73 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which authorizes him to refer the accused directly to the competent chamber if it is proven to him that the case is ready to be discussed and that there is no need to conduct an investigation into the criminal and misdemeanor charges brought against them.
He brought 8 people, some of whom had previous convictions, and who constitute a new blackmail network, before the Criminal Chamber of First Instance at the Court of Appeal of Fez to be tried at the first hearing scheduled for October 10, after ordering yesterday that they all be placed in Borkaiz prison, after having been returned there following their arrest.
He prosecuted them for various charges, including those related to the formation of a criminal gang, theft with a knife, multiple nocturnal acts, use of a vehicle, violence, threats, assault and battery with a weapon, after hearing them individually after being brought before him by members of the regional division of the judicial police of the State of Security of Fez.
The defendants were arrested successively by members of the brigade in coordination with their colleagues from the state service of the Judicial Police and “Deste”, on the basis of investigations and precise information available on their suspicious activity and their exploitation of random parking lots to extort illegal sums from drivers.
The defendants, among them, operated car parks in various parts of the Montfleury district, in the Sais district of the city, and installed people to guard them and extort various sums of money from those who parked their cars there, without any legal reason or motive. rent the car parks, and they did not stop at that, but they embarked on another illegal practice.
They imposed daily taxes on traders and street vendors in various places in the neighborhood, also known as “Al-Zuhur”, in exchange for allowing them to display their goods and merchandise for sale on the main street, while threatening some of them who did not give in to their repeated blackmail, before members of the Regional Division of the Judicial Police entered the line.
This is not the first time that an extortion and “zatata” network has been dismantled, but it was preceded by other networks, the most famous of which is the blackmail network, in which several people were subjected, including 3 brothers of the group. Uwaynat Al-Hajjaj neighborhood, in the same province, the Court of Cassation upheld a judgment sentencing each of them to 10 years in prison.
