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Oufkir's error this time, said Hassan, had been "to think he could commit the perfect crime." The plot was later described to the King by two of the captured airmen. One of the pilots, Lieut. Colonel Mohammed Amekrane—who suffers from an incurable kidney ailment—disclosed the details after Hassan coldly reminded him that if military justice did not finish him off, his illness would. As Hassan related it, the plan called for the plane to be shot down at sea "so as to leave no trace." With the deaths of the King, three of his children and his only brother, Prince Moulay Abdullah—all of whom were on the plane—Oufkir would have had dictatorial powers as head of a regency in the name of nine-year-old Crown Prince Sidi Mohammed. In fact, he had planned to pick up the child, who was vacationing in the mountains, immediately after the attack.
But when Oufkir saw the King's Boeing 727 land safely on the runway, he apparently lost his nerve. "It's not possible," Hassan quoted him as saying. "It must be another airplane." Without waiting to see the King, Oufkir drove to army headquarters. "From that moment," said Hassan, "I began to wonder what was going on."
Not until later that evening did Hassan feel certain of Oufkir's guilt. By that time, both Amekrane and another pilot, Major Kouera el Ouafi, were being questioned, a fact known by Oufkir. At 11 p.m., Hassan summoned Oufkir to his palace at Skhirat. Oufkir delayed, but after two more phone calls from the King, he arrived around midnight. The royal family was waiting; in a fury Hassan's mother grabbed Oufkir. "Listen, I've had enough of this army that has frightened me twice already," she said. Oufkir moved on into the children's room, nervously smoking one cigarette after another. "I'll go get His Majesty," said the King's protocol chief. "Wait," said Oufkir. "Has His Majesty seen Kouera?" The aide made no reply.
"All right, I understand," said Oufkir. "I know what's left for me to do." With that, according to Hassan, Oufkir pulled his revolver to shoot himself. Others tried to stop him; some wild shots hit the ceiling. "The last shot was fatal," said Hassan—though he may not have told the whole story. Paris' Le Nouvel Observateur reported that those who saw Oufkir's body the next morning said that one bullet had hit him in the stomach, another near the lung, a third in the right arm, and a fourth in the back of his neck emerging through his left eye—too many wounds for a suicide.