Dutch drug baron Ridouan Taghi, who was sentenced to life in prison in February, went into hiding in Brussels for a while while fleeing Dutch justice. A photo made public by Taghi in March 2018 turned out to have been taken in an apartment on Brussels Avenue Louise, which was rented by one of his accomplices.
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The Dutch Public Prosecution Service (OM) placed Taghi on the international wanted list in March 2018 and published a selfie taken by Taghi, after which the investigation team was tipped off that the photo was taken in Brussels’ Avenue Louise. The search team eventually managed to locate the precise home.
The apartment where Taghi was hiding in the chic Brussels Avenue Louise turned out to be rented by Khalid D., a suspect in the Dunbar trial related to the Marengo liquidation process, which is currently in full swing in the Netherlands. Last Monday, the Public Prosecution Service demanded hefty prison sentences against several main suspects in that trial, including the Amsterdam drug trafficker and entrepreneur Mohamed K., in whose companies, according to the Public Prosecution Service, millions in drug money was laundered. Khalid D. was a director in one of those companies.
Cash
According to the Dutch Public Prosecution Service, cash played an important role in Taghi’s attempts to avoid justice. For example, Khalid D. paid the monthly rent of 4,300 euros for the Brussels safe house where Taghi was hiding in cash in advance for seven months and also coughed up the deposit of around 25,800 euros in cash – a total of more than 55,000 euros in cash.
According to the public prosecutor, Khalid D. Taghi has helped to escape the hands of the justice system and that is why the Public Prosecution Service is demanding a four-year prison sentence against him. Main suspect Mohamed K. is being sentenced to 4.5 years in prison.
The court’s decision is expected in June.
After a six-year trial, the Amsterdam court sentenced drug lord Ridouan Taghi and two of his co-defendants to life in prison at the end of February in the Marengo trial. Taghi has now announced through his lawyer that he will appeal against that sentence.
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Tags: Convicted drug lord Ridouan Taghi hiding Brussels Domestic
