NEWS: Top Dutch detective leads EU response to organised crime wave; focus shifts to Benelux ‘cocaine highway’

By AML Intelligence Correspondent

A TOP DUTCH detective has been appointed to lead Europe’s fight against growing international drug gangs and money launderers.

Andy Kraag has been appointed the new head of the Serious and Organised Crime Unit at Europol. In the Netherlands, Kraag was head of the Security and Intelligence Unit and will take over the position at Europol on 1 October.

His experience in the Netherlands in the fight against drug traffickers led by South America, Eastern Europe and North Africa is seen as a major asset as the European Union seeks to tackle the growing threat of organised crime.

The so-called ‘cocaine highway’ stretching from the Benelux ports of Antwerp in Belgium to Rotterdam in the Netherlands has attracted industrial quantities of black money and triggered a wave of mafia crime.

In the Netherlands and Belgium, the increasing dominance of the gangs is seen as a threat to democracy in both countries and to the EU institutions.

Legitimate businesses are being undermined by criminal gangs and corruption within government institutions has become a real problem as civil servants and law enforcement officers are lured with bribes running into tens of thousands of euros.

Kraag said about the new job: “I have enjoyed my contribution to the development of Guard & Security and the LX (Intelligence) Unit. But it is no secret that my heart lies in the fight against international organized crime. And I am going to follow my heart.”

“As of 1 October, I will start as Head of Serious and Organised Crime at Europol. There I can (once again) focus on combating international drug crime, excessive violence, corruption, arms trafficking, human trafficking, environmental crime and organised gangs. And that is really my thing,” says Kraag.

The threat posed by criminal gangs was recently underlined by the imprisonment of gangster Ridouan Taghi.

Caught: ‘Supercartel’ member Ridouan Taghi was sentenced to life in prison in the Netherlands after being extradited from the UAE. Masked and armed police surrounded the courthouse, known as the Bunker, on the outskirts of Amsterdam as the judges, whose faces were obscured and who remained unnamed, read out the verdicts. Drones and a police helicopter circled overhead. It was yet another example of the creeping influence and danger of transnational organised crime across the globe.

His trial took place in a former bunker in Amsterdam, guarded by hundreds of masked special forces and drones circling overhead to prevent a breakout.

When judges found him guilty of five murders and two attempted murders, their faces were hidden and their names were not released.

“He has managed to instill fear in the people,” Dutch MP Ulysse Ellian said of Taghi, who was sentenced to life in prison.

During the six-year investigation into Taghi, three people with ties to the state’s star witness were murdered, including his lawyer and a well-known crime journalist who had joined the witness’s legal team.

“We have seen murders before. What is new about Taghi is that he also targets individuals who do not belong to the criminal underworld: the brother of the crown witness, a lawyer, a journalist,” said Robby Roks, associate professor of criminology at the Erasmus School of Law in Rotterdam.

The case, he said, “raises all these questions about what these criminals can do from prison with seemingly unlimited resources.”

Top Dutch detective Kraag, who calls himself a gang hunter, will now lead the EU’s response to the threat.

His appointment comes after the President of the European Commission pledged in her State of the Union address to double Europol’s resources.

Kraag said he hopes to return to the Dutch police in the future and until then I will continue to work at Europol on security in Europe, the EU and the Netherlands.

“Of course I will take you through the major investigations and operations that we support from Europol,” he added.

Referring to his colleagues at the Dutch National Police (Politie), he said: “I will miss the fighters I have worked with over the past 10 years and want to thank them for their trust and a great time. Stay safe.”

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