News item | 06-02-2023 | 4:30 pm
The Netherlands and Morocco are negotiating an extradition treaty to step up the fight against organized crime. Minister of Justice and Security Yesilgöz-Zegerius wrote this to the House of Representatives today.
Violent criminal networks operate worldwide to further their drug and arms trade and try to launder their criminal assets through international constructions. The Netherlands and Morocco want to further join forces against this and a bilateral treaty on extradition will further strengthen cooperation.
“The impact of organized crime on our society is alarming. We see criminal networks earning big money with international drug trafficking, with which they try to infiltrate and corrupt our legal economy through underground banking and money laundering constructions. Meanwhile, we are dealing with drug-related violence in our streets and our young people are being recruited into crime. In the fight against this, together with Morocco, we can better undermine and roll up the criminal power structures with their criminal players.”
said Minister Yesilgöz-Zegerius.
The cooperation with Morocco is part of the international agenda for the future in tackling organized and subversive crime, which was announced by the Minister of Justice and Security in June last year. A bilateral treaty broadens the number of offenses for which extradition is possible between the two countries and allows specific agreements to be made about procedures. With a bilateral treaty, each request for extradition will also be assessed individually on the basis of legal and treaty frameworks. As soon as agreements have been made with Morocco for an extradition treaty, this will be submitted to parliament for further implementation through the usual procedures.