This Tuesday, the Dutch justice system handed down a sentence in the Marengo case, the largest judicial process in the history of the Netherlands against the alleged members of a criminal organization with various branches dedicated to importing cocaine from Latin America to Europe, also through Belgium, Spain and Portugal. In what is called by the Dutch press as Mocro Mafia, The main suspect, Ridouan Taghi, 47, a Dutchman of Moroccan origin, has been sentenced to life imprisonment as the leader of the group. In total, there are 17 accused of six murders, four attempted murders and having prepared at least four other fatal assaults.
Taghi is considered one of the most dangerous and influential criminals in the Netherlands and in a way personifies organized crime on Dutch soil, which has achieved high power in the country. In 2022, the Dutch Government had to reduce the movements of the crown princess, Amalia, almost confining her to her home, due to threats from that same environment. Although the police and the Executive remained silent, security and terrorism experts considered it “highly probable” that the challenge came from criminal groups linked to drug trafficking. Prime Minister Mark Rutte also had to accept greater protection.
This Tuesday’s ruling reads: “This case is about ruthless and disturbing violence (…) in a world where human life has no value.” And he adds: “Society must receive maximum protection against it.” [Taghi]”. It has also been highlighted that none of the victims’ relatives have had the courage to talk about their pain. Two of Taghi’s closest associates, Said R. and Mario R., have also received life sentences. For three other defendants, the sentence was 29, 27 and 23 years in prison, respectively. The sentence for Nabil B., the prosecution witness who facilitated the arrests with his statements, is 10 years. The sentences for the others range from 19 to two years in prison.
While the trial was being prepared, threats against lawyers, judges and prosecutors increased and the Government had to reinforce protection measures with the help of the army. One of those murdered was Martin Kok, a former criminal who had spent several decades in prison and had a website where he published the names and surnames of other criminals. Protection has also been key during the reading of the ruling, carried out in the maximum security judicial complex in Amsterdam, known as The Bunker. In a live broadcast of the reading of the sentence, heavily monitored by the police, the judge’s face was omitted to be shown on video.
Officially, the process opened in 2021, and Taghi was arrested in Dubai in December 2019. As of 2018, however, three murders have been committed that have shocked the Netherlands. Although they are not part of the case, police investigators believe they are related to the statements of the prosecution witness, Nabil B. A week after it was announced that he would collaborate with justice in exchange for a reduced sentence, his brother was shot in Amsterdam. In September 2019, Derk Wiersum, Nabil B.’s lawyer, was shot dead in the middle of the street in the same city. The Ministry of Justice described the crime as an “attack against the rule of law.” At that time, the Prosecutor’s Office offered a reward of 100,000 euros for information about Taghi. He later complained that the figure was “too low” and called the Dutch authorities “Calvinists.” In the summer of 2021, Peter R. de Vries, a well-known investigative journalist who had agreed to speak with Nabil B. as a kind of confidant, was also shot dead.
car theft
Taghi had been living in Morocco for several years, but fearing arrest, he moved to the United Arab Emirates. He had come to the Netherlands as a child with his family, and lost his father as a child. He failed to graduate from high school and embarked on a criminal career stealing cars, although he soon built an active network in drug trafficking. In 2014, he was sentenced to six years in prison for importing shipments of cocaine and heroin. Once on the street, he continued with these activities, according to the portal Juristenblogwhose members are practicing lawyers.
The influence of Taghi and his environment has also affected his cousin, Youssef T. He was sentenced to five and a half years in prison for having helped him transmit messages outside of prison. Taghi’s lawyer, a well-known criminal lawyer named Inez Weski, has not been spared either. Even though she had represented him from the beginning, she was arrested and removed from the case because the police suspected that she was also passing information – perhaps under pressure – to her client’s entourage. This investigation continues.
The life sentence is served in full in the Netherlands, and can only be reviewed if there are circumstances under which the convicted person should never have received it. Or in case of pardon. The term Mocro Mafia It is a contraction of the expression Moroccan mafia, and is applied to various criminal organizations made up of members of this ancestry, but also by native Dutch and citizens of Antillean, Turkish or Albanian origin, among others. Its radius of action has expanded since 2012, when the theft of a shipment of cocaine in the Belgian port of Antwerp sparked a confrontation between rival gangs.
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