His lawyer Kim van de Wijngaart: “Detainees do not receive leave from the prison board for funerals abroad. My client’s grandmother died in Belgium and is buried there. His only chance of being there is through a pre-trial suspension. The funeral is a 2.5 hour drive from Schie where he is being held. He could just make it.”
During the interim hearing, the prosecutor opposed Bilal E. (32) and another co-defendant against the suspension of the pre-trial detention: “There are too many serious objections.” E. showed the court some photos of his grandmother to show how much she meant to him. “She kind of raised me.”
The police investigation into the notorious mistaken kidnapping has now been completed. The file consists of 6000 pages. A group of nine men, three of whom are still on the run, allegedly hit a 56-year-old man from Hoofddorp last year and held them for five days. When it turned out to be a mistake, the victim was released in Gouda by his captors.
According to the Public Prosecution Service, the mistaken kidnapping is related to the discovery of 1,899 kilos of cocaine at the end of July last year in the port of Antwerp. The substantive treatment of the criminal cases against the alleged kidnappers may not take place until next year.