On Wednesday 11th February, BarakaCity were sending 20 ambulances part of an aid convoy to Syria. To inaugurate this they filmed them with a low altitude drone on their private car park. A team of the police crime squad (BAC) intercepted the driver of the drone and was placed in custody immediately.

Then an employee of the charity tried to enquire about what was going on, he was also handcuffed and placed in custody immediately.

The ordeal could have stopped there, but the case took a disturbing turn when two hours after the incident, five vehicles stopped outside the headquarters of BarakaCity. 19 police officers and the police chief of Essonne, informed the charity that the entire premises was about to be searched.

The police searched the charity employees, donors, guests and the candidates for a job interview.

The President of the BarakaCity charity, Idriss Sihamedi arrived after the start of the search and was also searched in the sight of all those who passed in front of the doors of the building.

A few minutes after the building was flooded by the police and handcuffed an employee who assistes the police in their search.

They asked him to show the contents and documents on the computer; pictures therein, personal, professional photos and aid work. The police officers were surprised to see the number of subscribers who follow the charity om Facebook and Twitter and subsequently took pictures.

Idriss then pleaded with the police that there was nothing suspicious in the building and he was ready to give all the information they sought.

The search continued in the prayer area of the chairty and took photos of Islamic books including the Quran.

An hour later, when the search have yielded nothing, the police left the scene, without explanation.

Since April 2014, the charity have been working under difficult conditions and are under the spotlight of the security agencies. Their humanitarian work have been affected where they operate in 20 countries. The charity have had two of their bank accounts suspended without proper explanation.

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