A key figure in the Dubai-based “super cartel” that supplied a third of Europe’s cocaine has been sentenced to life in prison by a Dutch court as international prosecutors close in on other drugs bosses still at large.
Ridouan Taghi, a Moroccan-born Dutch national who allegedly headed the “Angels of Death” cartel, was jailed for ordering a string of assassinations and belonging to a criminal organisation. The public prosecutor’s office described Taghi’s operation as a “well-oiled killing machine”.
A court in Amsterdam on Tuesday sentenced Taghi — who had been the Netherlands’ most wanted man — and two other defendants to life in prison in the sensational Marengo trial, which shocked the liberal nation. Taghi was not present at the reading of the verdict, which can be appealed.
Taghi is also suspected of ordering three further murders during the trial, including of a top lawyer and a prominent journalist in the Netherlands, and pulling strings even from behind bars following his arrest in Dubai in 2019.
The United Arab Emirates has become a hub for powerful European traffickers and Taghi was a key player in the flow of drugs through the port of Rotterdam, which has made the Netherlands one of the bloc’s biggest markets and a growing production hub for synthetic drugs.
Taghi was extradited from Dubai in 2019, where key super cartel traffickers had lived opulent lifestyles believing themselves safe from capture.
His extradition paved the way for those of other top crime figures, including France’s convicted Moufide ‘Mouf’ Bouchibi, known as “The Ghost” and Raffaele Imperiale, an alleged Italian Camorra mafia boss who has turned state’s witness in Italy.
Europol in 2022 said it had smashed the heart of the super cartel’s command and logistics operations when it arrested 49 people in raids across Europe and in Dubai.
Ireland’s Daniel Kinahan — considered by police and experts to be the biggest European drug boss still at large — is believed to be in hiding in the Gulf state, where he once partied with Taghi at the Irishman’s wedding in 2017.
The six-year trial put Taghi and 16 others in the dock — and the Netherlands’ reputation as a pivotal nexus in the European drug trade — firmly in the spotlight.
The trial began in 2018 with evidence from a suspected drug trafficker, identified by authorities as Nabil B, who became a crown witness in exchange for a reduced sentence of 10 years. Nabil’s lawyer and his brother were assassinated after he agreed to testify.
After his extradition, prosecutors believe Taghi pulled strings from jail to order the murder of Dutch crime journalist Peter de Vries in 2021, who had reportedly been in touch with the crown witness.
Two men have been convicted of killing the lawyer, and a verdict in the De Vries case is expected in summer.
Proceedings in the Marengo trial were further thrown into disarray last year when Taghi’s defence lawyer Inez Weski was arrested on suspicion of belonging to Taghi’s criminal organisation.
Weski was said to have passed on sensitive information from Taghi to outside contacts while he was in confinement. She has previously called the allegation incorrect and is awaiting trial.
Taghi’s conviction comes as Irish prosecutors seek the extradition of Kinahan, who is under US sanctions and has a $5million (NZ$8.1m) bounty on his head.
The Director of Public Prosecutions in Dublin has been reviewing a police file for several months on potential charges Kinahan could face. Dubai police visited Dublin in October last year to discuss co-operation, following a visit by Irish police to Dubai.
Earlier this month, Irish police seized a haul of crystal meth worth an estimated €33m (NZ$58m), exposing alleged links between Kinahan’s group and Mexico’s notorious Sinaloa cartel.
Written by: Laura Dubois in Brussels and Jude Webber in Dublin
© Financial Times