The gendarmes made two arrests on Tuesday in Cendras, north of Alès. The two suspects, a 40-year-old man and his ex-girlfriend, are in custody. Sihem Belouahmia, remains untraceable.
Disappeared since last Wednesday, Sihem Belouahmia, the 18-year-old young woman from L’Habitarelle, a district of Salles-du-Gardon, remains nowhere to be found.
The major gendarmerie operation which took place on Tuesday, in Cendras, a village located halfway between Alès and the place of disappearance, did not make it possible to locate her. However, the investigation has made significant progress. Two suspects, a forty-year-old man and his ex-girlfriend, were taken into custody.
A major operation under the dumbfounded eye of local residents
A little before 2 p.m., an important device was deployed by the military. Gendarmes from the Nîmes research section, the Alès research brigade and men from the surveillance and intervention platoon (Psig) took over Avenue Arthur-Vigne, the main artery of the village.
Several houses were searched as well as a vehicle. These are the residences of a lady and her daughter, the suspect’s ex-companion. The latter would have family ties with the disappeared.
The investigations took place under the dumbfounded eye of local residents. The investigators lifted the device around 4.30 p.m., not without having collected numerous seals which they loaded into their vehicles before leaving.
From worrying disappearance, the investigation evolved. Today the investigations relate to facts of kidnapping and sequestration. François Schneider, the public prosecutor of Alès confirmed this vast arrest operation and the two police custody in progress.
The magistrate explains: “The Alès prosecutor’s office naturally relinquished this case in favor of the Nîmes prosecutor’s office given the now criminal nature of the facts.”
A suspect with a heavy criminal record
The investigators seem to be interested in the forties arrested on Tuesday since his simple hearing carried out at the start of the investigations, last week.
The personality of the mis en cause, his judicial past and the fact that he appears in the family environment of the young disappeared, encourages the gendarmes to dissect his actions of these last days.
The man has already been convicted 13 times between 2001 and 2015, when he was sentenced to twelve years in prison for thefts and robberies. His first incarceration occurred when he was a minor.
This Wednesday, he was to appear before the Assize Court of Gard. He is indeed accused of having, in December 2011, with his brother-in-law, tied up and robbed at their home, a couple of traders. The facts occurred in Laval-Pradel, a town near Cendras.
The two armed and hooded thugs tied up and then threatened the manager of a tobacco bar and his wife. They were given the recipe of the day, bank cards with which they made withdrawals, as well as boxes of cigarettes, for an amount of around €20,000. The lawsuit might be postponed.
The track of the arrested suspect is considered “very serious” by the gendarmes who are however continuing the investigations in several other directions.