Army Used to Foil Dutch-Moroccan Drug Kingpin Taghi’s Prison Break

Rabat – The Dutch armed forces have been called in to erect barricades to prevent a possible prison break via helicopter of drug kingpin Ridouan Taghi.

After the Moroccan Dutch Ridouan Taghi’s escape plans came to light, Netherlands’ Ministry of Defense and the Department of Correctional Institutions (DJI) put extra security measures around the prison where he is being held.

With Taghi being Europe’s former most-wanted criminal, Dutch authorities fear that his cartel is considering new criminal plans to break him out of prison.

According to the Public Prosecution Service (OM), associates of the main suspect in the Marengo trial would be preparing a violent escape using a helicopter.

“In the interest of safety in and around prisons, I will not reveal anything specific about security measures,” DJI’s spokesman said, quoted by Dutch news outlet NU.

Taghi was wanted for several murders, including the one of the Dutch crime reporter Peter R. de Vries which dominated Dutch news in 2021.

The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has revealed that Taghi was also one of the heads of one of the world’s largest drug cartels which provided one third of Europe’s cocaine that flowed through Dutch ports .

The OM announced Taghi’s escape plans in October shortly after his cousin and lawyer Youssef Taghi was arrested.

In the same month, Jaouad F, his cousin, was arrested in the Moroccan coastal town of Tetouan on involvement in the murder of a high court judge’s son in 2017.

To prepare for his daring jailbreak, he was looking for people who work in the maximum-security prison. Four employees of the high-security prison where he stayed went into hiding in October but it has yet to be revealed whether they are linked to the criminal.

Earlier this year, Taghi had reportedly released millions of euros to finance a “command group” that had to come and free him, reported the Netherland News Live.

With a long criminal record and serious crimes committed, the 43-year-old mafiosi has been generating constant terror and anxiety for the Dutch authorities, threatening the security and stability of many different countries including Belgium and Spain.