Ridouan Taghi
[4] Until his late 2019 arrest in Dubai, Taghi was the most wanted criminal in the Netherlands with a record-breaking reward of €100,000.
[1][5] In 2022 he was held at Nieuw Vosseveld, a maximum security prison in Vught and the main suspect in the Marengo trial.
[7] The tipping point was when in June 2015 drug trafficker Ebrahim Buzhu reported Taghi and his suspected right hand man Saïd Razzouki to the Dutch police.
[1] Witness Nabil B. has alleged that Taghi was involved in this murder, but the Prosecution left it out of the trial due to lack of evidence.
[12] In August 2021, de Telegraaf reported that the police found Taghi's DNA on bullets used in Jabli's assassination.
[13] According to the Prosecution, Taghi ordered the assassination of spyshop employee Ronald Bakker in September 2015 in Huizen.
Scekic was killed on 22 June 2016, a few days before he was scheduled to be heard as a witness in a criminal case against Taghi's organisation.
[16] In June 2016, former criminal turned crimeblogger Martin Kok published on his website Vlinderscrime about two henchmen of Taghi.
Kok continued publishing, including a piece on 12 September the same year about Taghi, Richard R. and Naoufal F..
On the night of 5 December 2016, criminal Khalid B. was the target of two or three armed men who entered his house in Rotterdam.
The Dutch Prosecuction argues that Taghi is behind this, because Khalid B. and his brother wanted revenge for the murder of Samir Erraghib.
This led to Nabil B. turning himself over to the police and eventually becoming a crown witness in the Marengo trial against Taghi and his group.
According to the Prosecution, Taghi had ordered three assassinations in 2017 through the motorclub Caloh Wagoh [nl]; Justin Jap Tjong on 31 January 2017, Farid Souhali on 17 April 2017 and Jaïr Wessels on 7 July 2017.
[citation needed] In September 2019 the lawyer of Nabil B., Derk Wiersum, was killed at his home.
And a witness has testified that Taghi had given the assignment to kill De Vries back in April 2019.
[24][25][26] Taghi managed to evade capture by constantly altering his appearance and using false passports and visas.
As the Netherlands does not have an extradition treaty with the United Arab Emirates, Taghi was deported three days after his arrest; based on him being declared a persona non grata by the government, as he had entered the UAE under a false identity.
On 15 December 2020, the Federal Bureau of Investigation notified the Dutch police that Taghi had been able to communicate physically and electronically with the outside world through one or more bribed prison guards.
[32] On 23 July 2021, after the murder of De Vries, the police received permission from the judge to place listening devices when Youssef and Ridouan Taghi met in the prison, followed by cameras in September.
Youssef Taghi was convicted for membership of a criminal organisation, planning a breakout attempt and involvement in drug trafficking and money laundering.
On 21 April 2023, Weski was arrested on suspicion of membership of a criminal organisation and violating confidentiality.
Some of the letters have been rejected by the prison, because they feared that the Quran verses used by them contained hidden messages.
