The Netherlands' most dangerous drug lord has been sentenced to life in prison for a series of murders committed between 2015 and 2017, the court said in a massive trial, AFP reported.
"We convict all the suspects. Ridwan Taghi gets life in prison," said the judge, who was not identified for security reasons, from the heavily guarded court in Amsterdam, which also convicted 16 other cartel members.
Taghi was accused of pulling the strings of a drug cartel dubbed the Mocro Maffia, an organization described as a "well-oiled killing machine". He and his accomplices were tried for six murders and four attempted murders.
Sixteen other suspects received sentences ranging from life imprisonment to one year and nine months in prison.
The verdict came almost six years after the trial began in a heavily guarded court known as "The Bunker" on the outskirts of Amsterdam.
Ridouane Taghi, 46, who was born in Morocco and raised in the Netherlands, is believed to be the head of an international organized crime group with roots in the Benelux countries, known as the "Mocro Maffia" because of the Moroccan origins of some of its members.
The term refers to a group of criminal groups considered to be some of the biggest distributors of cocaine in the Netherlands.
Taghi was arrested in Dubai in 2019 and is being held in a top-secret Dutch prison. However, he continued to run his gang from the inside, passing messages to his accomplices on the outside, according to prosecutors.
According to observers, the scale of the trial, called "Marengo", is unprecedented in the Netherlands. The army was mobilized to guard the area around the court during the hearings. Prosecutors and judges travel in armored cars.
A Dutch streaming platform has even created a series called "Mocro Maffia".
The crimes took place between 2015 and 2017, mainly targeting individuals suspected by the gang of becoming police informants.
The 2017 killing in Utrecht of a man named Hakim Changachi is considered a mistake by prosecutors.
Shortly thereafter, one of the alleged gang members, identified as "Nabil B," surrendered to police and agreed to testify for the prosecution.
A new wave of violence followed, with killings that shocked the country. Three people close to Nabil B. were killed: his brother in 2018, his lawyer Derk Wirsum in 2019, and the famous journalist Peter R. de Vries, believed to be his confidant, in 2021.
Ridwan Taghi has always denied the charges, saying the money spent on this "sham trial" should have been invested in education, police, and health instead, Het Parool newspaper reported.
None of the suspects made statements during the trial, which was delayed by several twists and turns.
Inez Ueschi, Taghi's lawyer at the time, was arrested in April 2023 on suspicion of helping her client communicate with the outside world.
The new lawyers appointed subsequently resigned, claiming they had not had enough time to prepare. Tagi then decides to lead his defense.
The prosecution's case ran to more than 800 pages, including incriminating evidence from Nabil B. and encrypted phone calls. /BGNES