Nineteen-year-old Bilal Basti only wanted to hail a taxi, but the young Tunisian ended up paying for the ride with his life. The scene occurred recently near the Ministry of the Interior in downtown Tunis.

A driver refused Bilal and his friend access to his car, preferring to pick up two women instead. An altercation followed.   The driver then took out a sharp object and stabbed Bilal in the head and then the heart, leaving him for dead.

Stabbed to death by security agent

Nineteen-year-old Bilal Basti only wanted to hail a taxi, but the young Tunisian ended up paying for the ride with his life. The scene occurred recently near the Ministry of the Interior in downtown Tunis.

A driver refused Bilal and his friend access to his car, preferring to pick up two women instead. An altercation followed.   The driver then took out a sharp object and stabbed Bilal in the head and then the heart, leaving him for dead.

Stabbed to death by security agent

The panicked driver escaped, but the police were able to find him and arrest him because of his number plate. The driver turned out to be a Presidential Security Service (PSS) member using his father’s cab to work illegally in his free time.

The phenomenon was common prior to the 2011 revolution. Ben Ali’s security personnel made extra income this way and Ben Ali himself liked to have a network of informants roaming the city’s streets. With inflation skyrocketing in Tunisia, it seems the trend of security personnel-turned-cabbies is reemerging.

Agents disguised as drivers

“Nearly 50 percent of Tunis’ taxi drivers are outsiders,” says Fawzi Khabbouchi, head of the Tunis Taxi Union. “This phenomenon is still rampant after the revolution, despite strict procedures.”

The Presidential Palace released a statement condemning Bilal’s murder – while also acknowledging that a member of the Presidential Security Services (PSS) was involved – yet the victim’s family say the accused is being protected because of his connections to the security services.

 “We will not rest until the killer gets the punishment he deserves” says Islam, Bilal’s brother. “My brother was murdered by a security agent. Had the driver been an ordinary citizen, quick developments would have taken place to convict him, but since the killer is a security agent, we are afraid that the truth might be effaced.”