Thai Bali police shoot dead French MMA fighter who killed a cop
and resisted arrest
Monday, May 2, 2016
DENPASAR - Police on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali shot
dead a French national Monday after he killed a policeman while
resisting arrest, an official said.
Amokrane Sabet, reported to be a mixed martial arts fighter, was
known as a troublemaker in the area in southern Bali where he
lived.
"There had been many complaints about him such as eating at
restaurants without paying, carrying a knife, and harassing people,
but every time we called him in for questioning, he never showed
up," Bali police spokesman Hery Wiyanto told AFP.
Around 40 police and immigration officials came to arrest the
49-year-old after discovering that his tourist visa had run out in
September.
But as they arrived at his residence in Canggu, a village
popular with foreign tourists, Sabet emerged brandishing a
knife.
"One of our officers tried to approach him and calm him down,
but Sabet stabbed him," said Wiyanto, adding that the officer died
from his wounds.
Police then gave Sabet three warnings but as these were ignored,
they shot him several times, Wiyanto said. Images circulating
online showed Sabet waving a knife and later lying on the
ground.
The French embassy in Jakarta said it had been informed of the
death and was in contact with police.
Such flare-ups of violence are rare in Bali, a pocket of
Hinduism in Muslim-majority Indonesia that attracts millions of
foreign tourists to its palm-fringed beaches every year.
