Recently, Amsterdam’s mayor, chief prosecutor and head of police unveiled a new strategy to combat international and local crime which, “affect the security of citizens and the fabric of society and threaten the rule of law”.

“Criminality in our country abuses what is good here, our logistics, our space, our freedom, and at the same time limits our freedom.”Īlthough in 2019, murder and manslaughter cases in the Netherlands hit a 20-year low of 125, Dutch police union the NPB has repeatedly claimed the country has “ the characteristics of a narco state”, knife crime has risen among young people, and two years ago a report into drug-related criminality in Amsterdam described it as out of control.Ĭo-author Pieter Tops has said he believes the country’s light-touch penal system is “a major attraction” for criminals, while its roads and ports provide excellent infrastructure. “It is a many headed monster that gets ever more violent and more unscrupulous: we cannot accept this,” said acting justice minister Ferd Grapperhaus after the attack. Whoever is behind it, the shooting is being seen as a wake-up call on the hard drugs and organised crime the Dutch government fears is undermining the rule of law. His lawyer Inez Weski has also strenuously denied allegations that Taghi has anything to do with the De Vries attack, or any others.Īlleged drug gang boss Ridouan Taghi photographed in Dubai, where he was arrested in 2019. De Vries said he had been informed he was on Taghi’s “death list” – something Taghi has denied. When chief suspect Ridouan Taghi was arrested in 2019 in Dubai, he was reportedly described by the city’s police chief as “one of the world’s most dangerous and wanted men”. Meanwhile, the huge Marengo trial continues, with the public prosecutor accusing 17 alleged gang members of being part of a “well-oiled murder machine” that carried out gangland killings between 20. Nabil B’s brother was murdered in 2018, and a separate trial of three men suspected of shooting dead his former lawyer Derk Wiersum in 2019 begins on Monday.

The 64-year-old has, unconventionally, been acting as a representative and media spokesman for key prosecution witness Nabil B, a former gang member turned informant. Police at the scene of the shooting in Amsterdam of Peter R de Vries on 6 July.

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