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Willemijn Aerdts on Dutch news website NOS.nl on enlisting Dutch intelligence services in the fight against organised crime

On Tuesday 24 September the Marengo trial, also known as the trail against the so-called Mocro Maffia, continued behind closed doors after the fatal shooting of barrister Derk Wiersum. The main suspect is Ridouan Taghi. He is believed to be residing abroad along with several accomplices.

Minister of Justice and Security Grapperhaus is contemplating unorthodox measures in order to apprehend these suspects and fight organised crime. In an appearance on Dutch television programme ‘Buitenhof’ he said he plans to enlist Dutch intelligence agencies AIVD and MIVD in order to fight organised crime and drug gangs.

Reason

The reason why the minister wants to enlist these services has to do with the fact that the MIVD and AIVD have a mandate to conduct investigations abroad while the Netherlands Public Prosecution Service does not, says Willemijn Aerdts, Lecturer at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs at Leiden University. ‘The AIVD and the MIVD are able to collect information without having to ask another country for permission. The Public Prosecution Service has to file a request for mutual legal assistance if it knows the whereabouts of a person staying abroad.’

Transnational

It is the Public Prosecution Service’s duty to prosecute criminal acts. The AIVD and MIVD are tasked with protecting national security and the democratic legal order by, for instance, tracking terrorists. It would seem that the murder of barrister Derk Wiersum has compromised the national security and democratic legal order. ‘I believe that a boundary has been crossed with the barrister’s murder and that it can be interpreted as an attack on the democratic legal order,’ says Aerdts. ‘Which could very well mean that enlisting the intelligence services is warranted.’

You can read the full article (in Dutch) on the NOS website.

 

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