“This case must be solved at all costs.” After the supermarket murders in Oosterbeek, then minister of justice Ernst Hirsch Ballin made no mistake about it. The hunt for the perpetrators of the robbery at Albert Heijn Oosterbeek had to be given the highest priority.
In the robbery in May 1990, two employees were shot dead, a third stock filler was seriously injured. The impact was enormous. So much violence, such a thing was unprecedented in the Netherlands, says former detective chief De Jong in episode 4 of the podcast Appie.
But Belgium does have that chilling experience. The Gang of Nivelles kept the country in a fright in the eighties, through death and destruction with robberies on supermarkets. Had they shifted their field of activity to the Netherlands? The police are serious about it.
‘Crime Time’
Then a tip will come through the program Crime Time. Klaas de Jong tells in episode 4 how slowly the Gooise criminal Appie A. comes into the picture. ‘A ruthless perpetrator of violence’, describes Klaas de Jong. Someone who doesn’t shy away from practicing with his riotgun on a cow.
A., a talented kickboxer, turns out to have beaten up a conductor. In four years he committed several robberies, including at a post office in Vreeland, but also at banks in Bussum and Hilversum.
Deepest secret
Appie suddenly appears to have joined the Jehovah’s Witnesses. In the utmost secrecy, the police mount an operation and infiltrate the church community. The newfangled Jehovah is about to marry his Chilean girlfriend. Undercover agent 807 tries to gain Appie’s trust as a fellow believer and former crook. That seems to work. Although Appie suddenly seems suspicious.
A new episode of this podcast is released every Saturday morning. Listen via our site, or subscribe via Spotify or iTunes.
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