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Jun 25, 2009 - 2:37:25 PM By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief Former UFC fighter Lee Murray was released from a Moroccan prison yesterday after a hearing named him a Moroccan citizen, negating extradition on a charge that has made him one of the U.K.'s most wanted.
Murray is believed to be the mastermind behind a February 2006 heist at the Securitas bank debot in Tonbridge, England, a heist that garnered the thieves the equivalent of $92 million dollars.
Five of the alleged seven members of the heist have already been tried and sentenced, with another awaiting trial, while Murray escaped to Morocco and claimed citizenship to avoid extradition, as their laws hold that their citizens cannot be extradited for any crime. His father, Ibrahim Murray, is Moroccan, and though Murray himself was born in the U.K. the courts found him to be a citizen on Wednesday morning and he was released shortly thereafter.
He was in prison due to a bust for cocaine possession in 2006 and held there as authorities tried to determine his citizenship and the U.K. government worked to get him extradited. Then in recent weeks it was reported that Murray had been planning an escape from this prison, but it was thwarted. Now, however, according to a report today from Mike Chiappetta at MMA FanHouse, Murray was almost immediately re-arrested in Morocco following his release.
Since he cannot be extradited after the court's ruling, the U.K. government will now be working with the Moroccan government to try Murray for the bank heist under Moroccan law. If convicted he'll be sentenced in accordance to their laws as well.
Murray fought once in the UFC, at UFC 46, a bout he won against Jorge Rivera by triangle choke, and also took UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva the distance in his 8-2 career.
Time, Inc, is currently holding the movie rights to Murray's life and story, and are in pre-production on the film.
Penick's Analysis: Murray's story is certainly a fascinating one, and this is just the next step. I'd have to imagine his planned prison break that was stopped led to this process moving along a bit quicker to determine his citizenship so they could charge him there in Morocco if they couldn't get him to the U.K. The next step will be seeing how many years he gets as other members of the crew have already been handed down 10-15 years themselves.
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