Instill fear. According to the Public Prosecution Service, that was the purpose of the murder of crime journalist Peter R. de Vries in July 2021. Although Ridouan Taghi has not been identified as a suspect in the criminal case against the organizers and executors, his name is mentioned at least twenty times during the sentencing hearing.
At the time he was shot, De Vries was an advisor to Nabil B., key witness in the criminal case against Taghi. The reporter is the third fatal victim from the circle around Nabil B. The message behind this violence, as stated by the Public Prosecution Service in 2024 when demanding a sentence against the suspects of the murder: “No one is safe.”
It is not known exactly what Ismail M. said, but the importance of what he stated should not be underestimated
Justice points to Taghi as the client, without concrete evidence. This now appears to be changing, as can be deduced from publications by the A.D and Het Parool earlier this week: a man from the hard core of Taghi’s criminal network was arrested in Morocco and made statements. His name is Ismail M., a Dutchman born in Morocco who has been in the picture for ten years in violent cases in which Taghi is also mentioned.
When asked, sources confirmed the news that he was arrested in Morocco last fall on suspicion of drug trafficking in or via the Netherlands. It now appears that during interrogations he identified Taghi’s cousin Jaouad F. as the person who ordered the murder of De Vries. According to it A.D Ismail M. has worked closely with Jaouad F., who, like Ismail, also regularly appears in files on Ridouan Taghi.
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The leak in Vught
It is not known exactly what Ismail M. said, but the importance of what he stated should not be underestimated. Two brothers and a brother-in-law of Ismail M. came into the picture during police investigations into the hard core around Taghi. Some are childhood friends of Taghi from the Nieuwegein and Vianen area.
Together they formed the core of a criminal network involved in drug trafficking and underworld violence for many years. To date, all members of that network have invoked their right to remain silent. The fact that Ismail M. has stated is therefore special. In the criminal environment, there is talk of a statement forced by the police, with or without the threat of violence. Stories that are not for it first go around.
The fact that Jaouad F. was designated by Ismail M. as the client for the murder of De Vries fits in with other evidence collected after that attack. That investigation was partly carried out in the Extra Secure Institution (EBI) in Vught, where Taghi has been detained since 2019.
The EBI has a strict regime that must make uncontrolled contact with the outside world impossible. But in that investigation, sound and image recordings established that Taghi did communicate with the outside world, through his lawyer and cousin Youssef.
He has frequently visited Ridouan Taghi in the EBI since March 2021 and abused the right to confidential contact with his client by passing on messages. Some of those messages, those recordings show, were intended for someone called ‘Jim’ or ‘Bolle’, the nickname of Jaouad F, according to police.
A series of messages from Taghi to his cousin F. Jaouad are about a conflict in the family atmosphere with an ex-brother-in-law of Taghi. According to Taghi, he must be made “invalidated”. According to the police, Jaouad F. contacted a Polish intermediary about this in September: Krystian M. “Shoot, on your hands and knees,” is the instruction given to the Pole.
Other police investigations show that an attack was made on the ex-brother-in-law on September 12, but it failed. “Just shut up,” Krystian M. is told when he apologizes: “You are going to be my next enemy, you are a sick dog.” According to the police, these messages probably come from Jaouad F. And he in turn receives criticism from Ridouan Taghi: “That dog is not disabled. You send toddlers to do men’s work.”
Extraditing nationals
According to the police, this message traffic shows how the chain of command works. Taghi passes on orders to cousin Jaouad F. via Youssef, who directs an intermediary: Krystian M. This command structure is now relevant again. The Pole Krystian M. directed the perpetrators of the murder of Peter R. de Vries. Krystian M. was sentenced to more than 26 years in prison for this.
The fact that Ismail M.’s new statement now points to Taghi’s cousin Jaouad F. as the client for the murder of De Vries fits exactly with the reconstruction of contacts about the failed abuse of Taghi’s ex-brother-in-law.
Does the statement lead to a new criminal case in the Netherlands? In principle, Morocco does not extradite its nationals
Until now, the problem for justice and the police was that Taghi’s contacts with the outside world through Youssef were only recorded after De Vries’ murder. It is therefore not certain whether and what was communicated by Taghi before the murder. The question is whether that gap in the factual account can be filled with Ismail M.’s statement.
Another question is whether this statement will lead to a new criminal case in the Netherlands. In principle, Morocco does not extradite its nationals and the Dutch Public Prosecution Service is currently silent on the matter. Apparently it is a sensitive issue and that is not surprising. The violence that Ismail M. stated about was the result of the statements of another insider: key witness Nabil B.
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