Netherlands: threatened by drug traffickers, Prime Minister under reinforced protection
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte was known to travel with few security measures.
Laurens van Putten ANP / AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
Dutch authorities fear that drug traffickers have planned to shoot or kidnap Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
He was placed under enhanced protection.
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The newspaper
De Telegraaf
was the first to publish the information. According to sources familiar with the matter, Mark Rutte is in the crosshairs of drug traffickers. The threat to the Prime Minister, known for cycling with few security measures, follows a government pledge to crack down on organized crime after the
murder of investigative journalist Peter R. de Vries
in July.
The authorities say they have spotted the presence of lookouts around places frequented by the head of government.
They are said to be linked to a notorious trafficking gang, the “Mocro Mafia”, so baptized because of the presence within it of many Dutch criminals of Moroccan origin.
This organization is particularly specialized in the international traffic of cocaine, indicates our correspondent in The Hague,
Antoine Mouteau
.
The threat would be serious.
The "Mocro Mafia" is particularly suspected of having ordered the murder of Peter R. de Vries who presented himself as the confidant of a key witness in a vast case of settling of scores in the cocaine industry.
Before him, at the end of 2019, the lawyer for the witness in question had also been shot.
To prevent a possible attack or even the kidnapping of the Prime Minister, the national counterterrorism body has decided to assign elite police officers to its security.
Mark Rutte declined to comment on the information as he walked into parliament for talks aimed at forming a coalition.
“
I won't say anything about safety or security,
” he said.
Long known for its tolerant attitude towards marijuana, the Netherlands increasingly faces serious problems with drug-related crime.
A police union leader recently called his country a “narco-state”.
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Netherlands
Criminality
Drug