'Hundreds of Dutch Moroccans involved in gangland killings'

DutchNews.nl, Thursday 31 July 2014

(NOS/ANP)

Hundreds of Dutch Moroccan youths are involved in at least six gangland killings in the Netherlands and Antwerp as well as a string of violent robberies, not just a few dozen as thought earlier, the Volkskrant reported on Thursday.

The group includes drugs dealers, gunmen and 'facilitators' who are all linked to each other and live in both the Netherlands and Morocco, the paper quotes Amsterdam detectives as saying.

The paper bases its claims on a police investigation into a string of gangland killings which began in 2012.

The robberies take place in the Netherlands and then the perpetrators move to Morocco which does not deport its nationals, the paper says. The money they earn through their crime spree is also taken out of the country.

Tangiers

Detectives claim between 25% and 33% of the new appartments under construction in Tangiers are funded with criminal proceeds.

Dutch detectives visit Morocco on a weekly basis as part of their investigations and have so far sequestrated property and other possessions totaling some €100m, the paper says.

The public prosecution department has now signed an agreement with the Moroccan authorities to make it easier to prosecute people suspected of crimes in the Netherlands under Moroccan law – with the exception of the death penalty.

Last week, Hamza B, suspected of a double shooting in Amsterdam in December 2012, became the first person to go on trial in Morocco under the new agreement. Two other suspects are being tried in the Netherlands.

The killing is said to be part of a dispute centering on 200 kilos of cocaine.

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