Dutch drug lord is facing a judgment after a lengthy trial

THE HAGUE: The prosecution is seeking for at least six life sentences for the former most sought suspect in the Netherlands as well as 16 other accused members of a drug cartel known as the “Mocro-mafia” to face a court on Tuesday.

Judges will render a decision against Ridouan Taghi, a Moroccan-born man, and other defendants who are accused of murder in connection with a purported assassination operation that the prosecution referred to as a “well-oiled killing machine.”
The decision will be read at 0900 GMT in a heavily guarded courtroom outside of Amsterdam, which is often referred to as “The Bunker”.

The outfit, which is located in Amsterdam and is said to be one of the biggest cocaine dealers in the Netherlands, is said to be led by Taghi, 46.
Prosecutors claim that even though Taghi was housed in an extremely secure jail when he was caught in Dubai in 2019, he continued to carry out his reign of terror there by giving covert communications to henchmen outside.
Critics claim that the “Marengo” trial—named after a legal codeword for the operation in which Taghi and 16 other people were charged—is a first for the Netherlands.
The Dutch army has been sent in to defend the courtroom as part of the heightened security surrounding the trial.
Taghi and his accomplice are charged with six counts of murder and attempted murder, which includes ordering about thirteen attacks, between 2015 and 2017. The victims were mostly individuals who were thought to be police informants.
Prosecutors claim that a guy named Hakim Changachi was murdered in Utrecht in 2017 due to a mistaken identification.
Soon after, one of the alleged gang members, “Nabil B,” turned himself in and consented to testify as the prosecution’s main witness, giving investigators a significant lead in the case.
A spate of aggression
After Nabil B. became a state witness, there was another round of violence that left three individuals dead in shocking national scenes.
2018 saw the murder of Nabil B.’s brother; 2019 saw the shooting death of lawyer Derk Wiersum outside his home; and 2021 saw the death of renowned Dutch crime writer Peter R. de Vries.
De Vries, who was Nabil B.’s confidant at the time of his assassination, was shot dead in broad daylight in downtown Amsterdam as he was leaving a television studio. De Vries had previously said that he was on Taghi’s kill list.
Because the majority of the gang’s members are of Moroccan and Antillean descent, it is known by the moniker “Mocro-mafia”.
Even a fake series named after the infamous drug gang and situated in Amsterdam was produced by a Dutch subscription channel.
Money spent on a “sham trial could rather have gone to employing more teachers and police and health care,” according to Taghi, who has rejected all allegations, as reported by the Het Parool newspaper.
– “A lot has transpired.”
Throughout the trial, there were a number of other noteworthy events that caused the proceedings to be postponed, and none of the suspects spoke.
Inez Weski, Taghi’s attorney, was detained in April of last year on charges that she had relayed communications from her client to external parties.
Though she remains a suspect, she has not been prosecuted after her release, raising questions in the Dutch judicial establishment.
Taghi was given new attorneys, but they have now quit as well, and he has said he would manage his own legal counsel.
More than 800 pages of evidence, including communications from encrypted phones known as “Pretty Good Privacy” (PGP) phones—which are often used by criminal organizations—were included in the prosecution’s case in addition to testimony from Nabil B.
Prosecutors requested punishments ranging from five to twenty-six years in addition to the six life sentences; Nabil B. was given a sentence of ten years in prison.
Willem Jan Ausma, a criminal law advocate from the Netherlands, said on the Dutch morning television program WNL, “It’s been a six-year-long process and so much has happened.”
“It was all unpleasant,” he said.