The judicial police in the Anfa security area of Casablanca arrested a worker at the Marriott hotel, classified as suspected of being involved in the theft from players of the Nigerian national team, participating in the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
The security services had received a complaint about recorded scattered thefts of cash from the rooms of players from one of the women’s national football teams, where they initiated a series of intensive field investigations that allowed them to identify the suspect involved in this theft, who is an employee at the same hotel and was arrested yesterday, Saturday.
The searches conducted in the context of this case led to the seizure of an amount of 10,000 dirhams, which represents the total amount of money obtained from this theft, after the suspect converted it from dollars to the national currency.
The suspect has been kept under judicial custody pending the judicial investigation overseen by the competent public prosecutor’s office, in order to identify all the criminal acts attributed to him.
The Nigerian players revealed that they were victims of theft at the Marriott hotel in Casablanca through posts on the “Snapchat” application, where player Esther Okoronkwo claimed that cash amounts disappeared from the wallets of several players during their absence from the rooms. She alleged that she lost about 700 dollars, while reports mentioned other amounts missing from players’ wallets: Rashidat Ajibade (200 dollars), Osinachi Ohale (100 dollars), Joy Omizu (120 pounds sterling or its equivalent), and Halimatu Ayinde (100 dollars), bringing the approximate total to more than 1,200 dollars.
The players claimed that the theft occurred while cleaning staff were cleaning the rooms, and that the hotel management did not provide convincing answers when confronted, with some describing the employees’ responses as “disrespectful.”
