Raouiane Mohamed

Raouiane Mohamed, also known by various aliases including Mouchtaq, Mouchtak, Michtak, and Anwar, was born on November 10, 1970, in Morocco. He resided in Milan, Italy, where he became a central figure in the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (Jama’a Islamia Moukatila Maghrebia or MICG). As the leader of the Italian MICG cell, Mohamed was responsible for fundraising and transferring money to the central MICG network in Morocco.
In 1999, Raouiane traveled to Afghanistan, where he received military training at the Farouq camp, focusing on arms handling and urban warfare. He also spent time in Bosnia, engaging in combat as part of the jihadist cause. Between 2001 and 2003, Raouiane was deeply involved in raising and distributing funds for MICG operations. During this period, he delivered thousands of dollars to key MICG figures, such as Nafia Noureddine and Tayeb Bentizi, and provided financial assistance to the families of detained MICG members, including one individual known as “Osama”.
In 2001, Raouiane travelled to Pakistan to deliver €5,000 to Noureddine, a leading figure in the MICG. His fundraising activities continued through 2002, and during a wiretapped phone call in February of that year, he used the alias “Anwar” while speaking with Faycal Ben Said, a Tunisian convicted of terrorism. In the conversation, Raouiane coordinated the delivery of funds to fellow GICM members Abdelillah El Kaflaoui (alias Abou Muslim) and Abdelmajid Zergout (alias Abou El Bara), demonstrating his reliance on their availability to handle the money transfers.
In the summer of 2002, Raouiane travelled to Morocco to deliver funds to the MICG without being apprehended. That year in December, he returned to Morocco to give €20,000 to Tayeb Bentizi, a MICG leader who was a fugitive at that time. This money had been passed through a complex network, originating with Jawad al Saudi, through Noureddine in Turkey, and finally to Raouiane in Italy. He was stopped by Moroccan security forces in Tangier and interrogated when €20,000 was found hidden in his car. Despite his refusal to explain the source of the funds—later determined to have been raised in Varese—he avoided immediate consequences by pretending to cooperate as an informant. Raouiane expressed fear of severe penalties if arrested, as evidenced in intercepted conversations with El Kaflaoui
He successfully delivered the money to Bentizi by the end of 2002. During that meeting, Bentizi entrusted Raouiane with his photographs, asking him to procure a false passport to help him flee the country.
Despite his brief detention in Morocco and his supposed agreement to become an informant, Raouiane retained the trust of key GICM members, indicating his importance and reliability within the organization. He continued to play a critical role in fundraising and logistics for the GICM.
The Italian MICG cell, under Raouiane’s leadership, maintained both telephonic and physical connections with other MICG cells, including those in France and Belgium. In 2003, Raouiane, using the alias Mitchak, coordinated a meeting with Baouchi Moustapha from France and other operatives from Belgium, further underscoring his central role in the transnational operations of the MICG.
On October 18, 2003, Raouiane Mohamed was arrested in Varese by DIGOS, the Italian anti-terrorism police, at the request of Moroccan authorities. However, Italy refused to extradite him due to Morocco’s death penalty. Following his arrest, Raouiane’s wife maintained contact with Abdelmajid Zergout, who offered support, highlighting the close-knit nature of the MICG network in Italy.
Raouiane, along with fellow MICG members Zergout and Abdelillah El Kaflaoui, was arrested again in 2005 in Turin. He was later acquitted of the charges in Italy, but he had been sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison for terrorism-related offenses in Morocco. In 2006, the Italian Supreme Court ordered his pre-trial detention and determined that the conditions for Raouiane’s extradition to Morocco existed