a fugitive from Bison, suspected of several shootings, arrested in Morocco

Aged 26, Sahbi El Asraoui was arrested on Friday January 10 in Marrakech, Morocco. Convicted in March 2023 for attempted murder in Planoise, he fled his trial before being involved in several shootings, including a fatal one in Dijon in November 2023.

It was a hunt that lasted 22 months. On January 10, Sahbi El Asraoui, born in 1999 in Besançon, was arrested by Interpol services in Morocco, after a long run which began on March 8, 2023, the public prosecutor confirmed this Monday, January 13. from Besançon, Etienne Manteaux, during a press conference.

That day took place his criminal trial for acts of aggravated violence committed on December 27, 2020 in Planoise, in Besançon, the date on which he went to the home of the mother of a drug trafficker who had previously violated and humiliated, filming the sequence. Wrongly thinking he was dealing with his attacker behind the door, he opened fire and seriously injured a man. For these facts, knowing that he was already known to the courts for acts of violence and drug trafficking, he was sentenced to 7 years in prison by the Besançon criminal court. A sentence that he has never served since he fled in the middle of the hearing.

The Besançon prosecutor, Etienne Manteaux, specifies that a warrant of committal (request for immediate incarceration) against him was being studied at the same time. Since his disappearance from the radar, Sahbi El Asraoui has been involved in three other cases of violence.

While he is wanted, Sahbi El Asraoui is suspected of having shot and injured two individuals on June 11, 2023 at 4 a.m., including one seriously, in a parking lot, in Planoise once again. One of the survivors of the shooting, extremely “lucky”said he had stooped down by chance when a bullet passed through the window of his apartment, narrowly dodging him. The prosecutor indicates that the weapon used was a Kalashnikov rifle, loaded with 7.62 ammunition, known for their great power since two of the 20 cartridge cases found were embedded in a wall 500 meters from the scene.

On November 5, 2023, Bisontin is once again talked about. This time he is suspected, with two other individuals (one of whom was arrested and should soon be judged), of having beaten a man to the ground outside a nightclub in Chalezeule, near Besançon. While an individual tried to help the victim, one of the three attackers then went to get his car and hit him, inflicting 45 days of ITT (work time ban). The first victim received 20 days of ITT.

Finally, Sahbi El Asraoui is suspected of having participated in a shooting in Dijon on November 26, 2023, this time killing a man. Again, through a weapon of war.

His run finally ended on January 10 in Marrakech, even though he was carrying a French passport whose photo he had falsified. Asked about the continuation of the procedure, the Besançon prosecutor assured that he was confident in the extradition request made by France, which sent a magistrate there, although the deadlines are still to be defined.

“I would like to clarify my satisfaction in this matter since it concerns the high spectrum of delinquency, commented the prosecutor, welcoming the cooperation of the Moroccan authorities. He had been wanted for almost two years, two years too long. Of course, justice takes its time, but always ends up challenging individuals.”

Upon his return to France, he should be immediately incarcerated, in accordance with his conviction in March 2023. He will also be tried in Besançon and Dijon for three cases mentioned above.