Lee Murray - Securitas Depot Robbery

Securitas Depot Robbery

On 25 June 2006, in a joint operation with Moroccan police, Murray was arrested at a shopping centre in the Souissi district of the capital Rabat for suspected involvement in the Securitas depot robbery. Moroccan police said they had to use "specialist techniques to arrest the suspects because they were specialists in martial arts and firearms" Kent Police said in a statement that they had been tracking Murray for three months and would be seeking his extradition from Morocco. There is no treaty between the UK and Morocco, and the process was expected to take months. Later, Moroccan police revealed that Murray had also been charged with possession of "hard drugs". An officer said this could complicate extradition proceedings because, in theory, Murray would have to serve time in Morocco first for any offences committed there. On 27 June 2006 Kent Police confirmed the news of Murray's arrest in Morocco, and also stated that over 30 people had now been arrested in conjunction with the investigation.

In February 2007 it was reported that Murray could be returned to Britain in exchange for suspected terrorist Mohamed Karbouzi, who is wanted for questioning by the Moroccan authorities in connection with the 2003 Casablanca bombings.

In June 2009, an attempt to escape Sale prison in Morocco was made by Murray. Small saws were found in a plate of biscuits in Murray's cell by another prisoner who broke into it. Prison officials believe Murray was planning to cut through the iron bars of his cell window with the saws. To make the escape through the small window easier, Murray had lost a significant amount of weight recently through training hard and starving himself. Murray was in a different cell at the time as punishment for being caught with a laptop computer (with internet access) and five kilos of drugs. Other prisoners at Sale held it against Murray that he was able to use his money to smuggle in items like these, as well as expensive clothes. The fellow prisoner who broke into his cell was doing so to steal some of Murray's belongings. He was convicted of the £53m crime in a Moroccan court in June 2010. Kent Police said Murray must serve 10 years in jail in Morocco for his involvement. This Term was then extended to 25 years on November 30, 2010