The same suspicious cars were regularly seen at the Marengo trial, which takes place in the Bunker in the Amsterdam district of Osdorp. It is feared that the occupants were preparing a violent escape attempt.
This is evident from the documentary ‘Ewout: along with the heavy boys’, which will be broadcast on Tuesday and already this week is on Videoland. Presenter Ewout Genemans joins the Special Support Team for Justice (BOT). The BOT takes care of the transport of a large number of suspects to the Bunker. Among them is the main suspect Ridouan Taghi.
“We have information that we are simply being passed (by this he probably means followed, ed.), we know that,” a member of the BOT tells Genemans. “We see that too. Then you see certain people and vehicles that appear in the briefings. But also with certain intel. License plates, vehicles.”
He confirms to Genemans that that is ‘not nothing’. “It is up to us to anticipate these as well as possible. And to recognize those issues and act on them.”
Reconnaissance
The BOT uses heavily armored vehicles, including Range Rovers. It is discussed in advance when the flashing lights and siren will be used and where the nearest hospitals are. What also appears from the broadcast is that a few minutes before the departure of such a convoy, a reconnaissance is already being done with an inconspicuous car. Two members of the BOT then check whether there are suspicious persons at gas stations or on viaducts.
One such scout from the BOT, who works in civilian clothes, says that the service at the Bunker has ever appealed to suspected spotters. “They try to see where the weaknesses lie. Then they try to plan something. In the end you have nothing to lose. If you know that you are stuck for life, why wouldn’t you do it. And we have to continuously respond to that. Every time about the A2, that is also noticeable, then we have to do it in a different way.”
and another member of the service thinks that an attempt to escape during a transport is not inconceivable. “As they say these days, it’s no longer a question of if it’s going to happen, but rather when it’s going to happen.” The BOT considers the departure and arrival to be the most risky, so in the case of the Marengo process it concerns the Bunker itself. An attempt is made to always keep moving during transport.
The Marengo process is seen as the most highly secured process ever. During one of the transports, possibly Taghi’s, a police helicopter with a sniper and several vehicles of the Special Interventions Service (DSI) are also deployed. Soldiers and members of the Police Security Unit work at the Bunker itself together. In the coming months, about three sessions a week will take place, although all suspects are not always present.