Morocco: 2 Backpackers Killed, 3 Suspects Arrested

Three men have been arrested in connection with the murder of two Scandinavian women at a mountain range in central Morocco.

According to reports, the women – Louisa Jespersen, aged 24, from Denmark and Maren Ueland, aged 28, from Norway – both studied together at the University of South-Eastern Norway before embarking on a month-long trip to Morocco.

They had pitched a tent nearly 10 kilometres away from the tourist village of Imbil, the starting point for trekking and climbing Mount Toubkal, the highest peak in the High Atlas mountain range.

The women’s bodies were discovered on Monday, 17 December. A spokesman for Morocco’s interior ministry said that their necks had been slashed with a “cutting device”.

Three men from Marrakesh, who had been camping nearby, were arrested on Tuesday, 18 December. They had been identified with the use of CCTV from shops in Ibril.

The Norwegian embassy is working closely with the Moroccan police on the investigation.