An Alleged Crime Boss Found Hiding in Mansion

Ridouan Taghi, caught in Dubai, was the Netherlands' most wanted fugitive
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 19, 2019 1:56 PM CST
An Alleged Crime Boss Found Hiding in Mansion
   (Getty/Photos597)

He was called the Netherlands' most dangerous man, not to mention its most wanted fugitive. But Ridouan Taghi is now in custody, having been caught living in a mansion in Dubai under an alias, reports the New York Times. Taghi is accused of running a Dutch crime organization known as the Angels of Death, per Gulf News, and the name was apparently well deserved. Taghi allegedly ordered several assassinations, including those of a crime blogger and of an attorney who was representing a former Taghi gang member who had flipped. The latter killing, of attorney Derk Wiersum in September, occurred in broad daylight and in front of Weirsum's wife, and greatly increased the pressure on Dutch authorities to catch Taghi, reports Al Jazeera.

"The political implications of the arrest are big," a professor of the politics of international law at the University of Amsterdam tells the Times. "It probably is one of the most important arrests for the law enforcement agencies in the Netherlands in the last couple of years." Taghi, who is wanted on international warrants for drug trafficking as well, already has been extradited to the Netherlands, where the AP reports he will face trial for a series of assassinations or attempted assassinations. He is believed to have entered the United Arab Emirates in 2016 and managed to stay hidden until this week's arrest. Authorities are still looking for his alleged partner, Said Razzouki, who remains at large. (More Netherlands stories.)

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