Morocco’s Hit Radio in trouble for 'staging' live phone theft

CASABLANCA – An investigation by Moroccan police into a theft of a mobile phone of an individual who was talking on the phone live from a street in Casablanca during a morning show hosted by Momo Bousfiha on Hit Radio concluded that the theft was staged.

The investigation was opened following a video that went viral on social networks, in which a listener was allegedly the victim of a phone snatching while he was talking live on Hit Radio with Momo. 

The police treated the alert as that of a real crime, opening an investigation to apprehend the suspects. 

However, the findings showed that it was a set-up with the aim of increasing the radio’s audience and social media followers.

“The prefectural service of the Casablanca judicial police opened, at the end of last week, a judicial investigation under the supervision of the competent public prosecutor's office in order to identify all the individuals involved in the fabrication of a fictitious crime and the propagation of false information harming the feeling of the security of citizens, through information systems, and the insult to a body by the dissemination of erroneous declarations,” said a statement from the police.

The probe, carried out in coordination with the services of the General Directorate of National Territorial Surveillance (DGST), revealed that the auditor concerned had fabricated a theft scenario with the complicity of an individual, without ever requesting the services of security. 

A second accomplice involved in this affair was arrested after police found out he previously carried out several similar actions.

If found guilty of being part of the set-up, Momo could face a prison sentence for undermining the country’s security apparatus and harming the citizens’ security.