drug lord sentenced to life in prison in high-security trial

Three people linked to the main prosecution witness were murdered during the trial, which spanned six years. The prosecutors and judges were unidentified and traveled in armored cars to the hearing.

The trial of an organization qualified by the accusation of “well-oiled killing machine”. Ridouan Taghi, the most feared drug lord in the Netherlands, was sentenced on Tuesday February 27 to a life prison sentence for a series of murders committed between 2015 and 2017, the courts announced at the end of a large-scale trial. This 46-year-old man, born in Morocco and raised in the Netherlands, is considered the mastermind of the drug cartel nicknamed the “Mocro Maffia”.

The verdict was delivered almost six years after the start of this trial, which took place under high security. The army was mobilized to secure the area around the court during the hearings and the prosecutors and judges, all unidentified, went there in armored cars. Heavily armed law enforcement officers patrolled the court, commonly known as “The Bunker”, on the outskirts of Amsterdam on Tuesday. “We condemn all the suspects. Ridouan Taghi gets life in prison”said the judge.

Sixteen other suspects were sentenced to sentences ranging from life to one year and nine months in prison. The 17 men were on trial for six murders and four attempted murders. “As suspects, you had to wait a long time for the verdict, but this is also true for the relatives of the victims”, added the judge. Several defendants were in the courtroom to hear the verdict, but not Ridouan Taghi.

Mourning trial

Due to its scale, the trial, called “Marengo”, was unprecedented in the Netherlands, according to observers. A Dutch streaming platform even made a series called “Mocro Maffia”. Three people linked to the main prosecution witness, Nabil B., a former gang member, were murdered during the trial: his brother in 2018, his lawyer Derk Wiersum in 2019, and a prominent journalist, Peter R. de Vries, considered as his confidant, in 2021. “All of this has largely cast a shadow over this trial”said the judge.

But these three murders are the subject of separate legal proceedings. Tuesday’s verdict related to crimes committed between 2015 and 2017, mainly targeting individuals suspected by the gang of having become police informants. The 2017 murder in Utrecht of a man called Hakim Changachi is considered by the prosecution to be a mistake. Shortly afterwards, Nabil B. went to the police and agreed to become a witness for the prosecution. He received 10 years in prison.

Ridouan Taghi was arrested in Dubai in 2019 and imprisoned in an ultra-secure Dutch prison. Despite this, he continued to lead his gang from the inside by transmitting messages to his accomplices outside, according to the prosecution. He is considered the mastermind of an international organized crime organization, whose roots are partly in the Benelux. For his part, Ridouan Taghi has always denied the accusations, affirming that the money spent on this “mock trial” should have instead been invested in education, policing and health.