Re : Kenya et Polisario
Toujours au Sahara:
Brazen robbers in Big Leagues heist sentenced for terrifying raid 1
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RICHARD CUTHBERTSON
The Daily News (Halifax Canada)
COURT - He is originally from the Western Sahara, a sparsely populated, yet highly disputed territory to the south of Morocco.
At university in the Moroccan city of Marrakech, he joined a political organization fighting for the independence of Western Sahara. When police began to crack down and arrest activists, he fled the country.
Such is the story of Khalil El-Harouch, as told by his lawyer, Peter Kidston. Yesterday, the 33-year-old father of two was half a world away, seated on the prisoner bench of a Dartmouth provincial court.
Beside him was Rachid Mziouak: a 28-year-old who had also fled political persecution in Morocco, according to his lawyer, Kevin Gilpin. The two men have lived in Canada for eight years.
The dejected duo, dressed in leather bomber jackets, were each sentenced for their role in the brazen 2005 heist of Big Leagues, a sports bar in Cole Harbour - a terrifying early morning raid in which three cleaners were bound with duct tape.
Mziouak and El-Harouch had pleaded guilty to robbery, forcible confinement, improper storage of a firearm and possession of marijuana for purpose of trafficking. Two other men involved in the daring robbery have already been sentenced.
Yesterday, Mziouak and El-Harouch took an opportunity to apologize through an Arabic interpreter. They were then sentenced to 54 months in prison, minus the 24 months credit they were given for time served in pre-trial custody.
It was before 6 a.m. on Aug. 8, 2005, when two cleaners walked out of Big Leagues to toss some garbage in a dumpster. That's when four men slipped into the bar via the open backdoor, Crown attorney John Feehan told the court yesterday.
Moments later, the two cleaners returned inside. One was confronted by a man with a pellet gun. He was told to "Get down, get down on the ground," Feehan told the court. Another cleaner felt something in the small of his back: he was ordered to do the same. The third cleaner, a woman, was confronted by a man wielding a knife.
All three had their arms and legs bound with duct tape. A safe in the closet was opened: the robbers made off with more than $38,000, Feehan said. They all wore hoodies or masks, and covered their hands with latex gloves.
There is good evidence the crime was well-planned in advance, Feehan said. And initially, police had little to go on. But as information trickled in, they started tracking Mziouak's vehicle.
A search of his apartment on Feb. 25, 2006, found a sawed-off shotgun in a plastic bag, a loaded shotgun stashed in the rafters, and ammunition in the bathroom. The weapons were not used in the robbery. More than a kilogram of weed was discovered inside a couch.
