John Culatto
A FUGITIVE of the biggest armed robbery ever carried out in Gibraltar was arrested returning from Morocco.
Two men are already in prison for their part in the brutal heist that took place in June 2017.
The local man wanted by Interpol was spotted by Spanish National Police officers getting off a ferry from Morocco.
It brought to an end more than two years he had spent on the run after the 25 minute €1.5million raid on tobacco wholesalers Southease Ltd.
DNA link
Armed with BB guns and with their faces covered they assaulted a security guard and tied up workers at the New Harbours warehouse.
They then took three bags containing €500,000 each and fled the scene.
The Royal Gibraltar Police soon arrested two men who were close to the scene of the crime.
Rachid Behdaoui, 53, and Samir Douaoui, 29, were connected to the hold-up by DNA evidence and put on trial.
Behdaoui was imprisoned for eight years and five months while his partner in crime, Douaoui, got three years and two months.
Chief Justice Anthony Dudley, who was the judge of the case, called it ‘the highest value robbery’ ever carried out in Gibraltar.
Only one of the bags containing €500,000 has been found to date.
