Police

Albufera finca searched for murder victim

The accused was taken to the finca yesterday. | Alejandro Sepúlveda

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterInca22/01/2019 15:26

Tòfol T., who was arrested by the Guardia Civil last week on suspicion of murder and was ordered to prison by an Inca court on Saturday, was yesterday taken from prison to a finca in Albufera, where the body of a 26-year-old Moroccan is believed to have been hidden or buried.

Moustapha El Karchaoui from Sa Pobla went missing last August. He had a criminal record and was known to frequent with people with "bad reputations". At the time, his disappearance was thought to have been voluntary. Police procedures for possible homicide were not activated as a result.

Recently it emerged that he had told a person close to him that he was going to be killed because of some "shady matter". Acting on this and other information, the Guardia Civil opened a murder investigation. Tòfol T., Spanish and described by people who know him as extremely violent, was well known to the police, mainly because of having been involved in street fights. Moustapha El Karchaoui was seemingly an associate of his.

In court he denied having any link to the murder of El Karchaoui, but was in any event charged with having covered up for those who did. He is at present the only person to have been detained.

The finca in Albufera is in Muro and it was searched last week. The Guardia Civil returned there yesterday, with the accused, his lawyer and a specialist sniffer-dog team that had been brought in from the mainland.