The General Directorate of National Security has denied the claims made in an article published in the French newspaper “Le Figaro,” alleging delays in the investigation of the disappearance of a French national in Rabat in 2024.
The General Directorate of National Security stated in a communiqué that it “has reviewed an article published in the newspaper “Le Figaro” which discussed the reported disappearance of a French citizen in Rabat in a manner marked by inaccuracy, and included claims attributed to some parties involved in the case alleging delays in the investigation and a lack of response from the investigative team to the family’s requests.”
To inform public opinion and in response to these incorrect allegations, the communiqué of the General Directorate of National Security highlighted the main pathways of the investigation into this case, as well as the various field procedures, technical expertise, and assignments undertaken, while adhering to the limits of publication allowed by law in a case that is still under investigation.
In this regard, the communiqué clarified that on April 13, 2024, the Rabat police department received a notification regarding the sudden disappearance of a French citizen from an apartment he was renting, where the judicial police team and crime scene technicians conducted initial inspections and visits that did not reveal any criminal suspicion regarding the motives for the disappearance, given the absence of any signs of forced entry into the apartment and the lack of evidence of theft, as his personal belongings, electronic devices, and a sum of money were found.
It was added that the investigation was deepened to explore the possibility of criminal suspicion through crime scene experts and the National Laboratory of Scientific and Technical Police, who conducted searches of the missing person’s apartment and also of the apartment of a person who was with him before he was reported missing, using advanced technical materials and equipment, and DNA samples were collected from these places for use in the investigation. No evidence or indication supporting the hypothesis of criminal suspicion was found.
In a bid to clarify the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of this French citizen, who was 29 years old at the time of his disappearance, the communiqué states that the competent public prosecutor entrusted the investigation to the National Judicial Police Brigade in Casablanca, which interrogated all individuals who interacted with the missing person, spoke to him by phone, or knew him. The number of interrogations exceeded 60 official records for interviews and questioning.
The investigation team also conducted technical examinations on some electronic devices belonging to the individual in question, but nothing was found that could help determine his location. Furthermore, the route of cities he traveled to in Morocco, including Tétouan and Chefchaouen, was tracked, and all those he met in these cities were interrogated, but he was not located.
In a related context, the National Judicial Police Brigade, under the supervision of the public prosecutor, sent dozens of requests for information and technical assignments to telecommunications providers, banking and financial institutions, and the customs and indirect taxes administration regarding the financial transactions and communications of the individual before his disappearance, as well as the foreign car he was using at one time in Morocco, but no criminal suspicion was detected nor any new information was obtained regarding the whereabouts of the individual.
The investigation team, with permission from the public prosecutor, also requested information through international security cooperation channels to trace the financial transfers of the missing person, which also confirmed the same previous results.
The General Directorate of National Security emphasized that contrary to what was reported by the French newspaper “Le Figaro,” and refuting the claims attributed to the investigative team, the family of the individual reported missing had been received on more than five occasions at the headquarters of the Regional Judicial Police Brigade in Rabat, and they were notified of all developments in the investigation, and items belonging to their missing son were formally handed over to them by order of the competent public prosecutor.
The National Judicial Police Brigade also responded to all requests for information received from the French liaison officer in Morocco regarding some phone notifications received by the father of the missing person, who claimed to have seen him in the cities of Casablanca, Mohammedia, Ifrane, Azrou, Khenifra, Fes, and some mountainous areas in the High Atlas.
The same source indicated that six investigation teams were formed, which traveled to all these cities, including a field team that carried out its mission for over three weeks in the areas of the High Atlas, and all informants were interviewed, leading to the identification of individuals suspected of resembling the missing person, with one being a French national, another an Estonian national, and the third a Moroccan, none of whom had any connection to the French citizen reported missing.
Deepening the investigation, the National Judicial Police Brigade issued an urgent notice to all national security and royal gendarmerie services to search for any French citizen matching the description of the missing person, but he was not found anywhere, including in hospitals and psychiatric clinics, especially since all testimonies indicated that the missing person was suffering from severe psychological complications.
The communiqué mentioned that regarding the hypothesis of the missing person’s religious extremism, which was referred to in the article by “Le Figaro,” the General Directorate of National Security confirmed that the research and investigations conducted in coordination with the General Directorate of Territorial Surveillance did not reveal any extremist connections for the individual on national territory.
The communiqué concluded that while the General Directorate of National Security clarifies the developments in this case, refuting the incorrect allegations published, it confirms that the National Judicial Police Brigade continues to follow up on the investigation in this case as required by law, and that the last legal action taken was on January 20, 2026.
