Ridouan Taghi, a Dutch drug kingpin, was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday (February 27) for a series of killings carried out by his crew between 2015 and 2017. The six-year experiment proved to be one of the largest in the Netherlands.
He was accused of numerous murders as the commander of one of Europe’s most dreaded drug gangs. He was the Netherlands’ most sought man until his 2019 extradition from Dubai.
The 46-year-old is accused of being the mastermind behind the Amsterdam-based “Mocro-maffia,” which is considered as one of the Netherlands’ leading cocaine traffickers.
Security surrounding the trial remained exceptionally tight, with judges and prosecutors seeking anonymity. At least three people directly involved in the massive six-year trial were assassinated.
Incarcerated Mastermind: Drug kingpin orchestrates operations from behind bars
Despite being incarcerated in a highly secure prison, authorities believe he was able to pull the strings from behind bars and continue to send covert communications to henchmen outside.
Peter R. de Vries, a notable crime reporter, was shot in the street in Amsterdam in 2021. De Vries was representing a suspect-turned-state witness in the trial, whose lawyer, Derk Wiersum, was assassinated in front of his city house in 2019.
A judge in Amsterdam District Court, whose identity was not revealed on a televised broadcast, stated, “We are sentencing all 17 offenders. Ridouan Taghi faces life in prison.”
“As suspects, you had to wait a long time for your sentencing, but that’s also true for the next-of-kin of victims,” the judge said.
During the hearing, sixteen other offenders received penalties ranging from life to one year and nine months.
Taghi’s sentence can be revisited after 25 years, but this does not guarantee his freedom, public prosecutors told AFP. Taghi did not appear in court.