Prosecutor wants to ban Satudarah in Netherlands

The Public Prosecutor is soon going to court to try and ban outlaw motorcycle gang Satudarah from the Netherlands, the prosecutor's national office confirmed to AD.This follows the arrest of several Satudarah members on Tuesday.

Satudarah global leader Angelo M. and his brother Xanterra M. were arrested in Tilburg. A club member from Maastricht was also arrested. They are in restricted custody, which means they're only allowed contact with their lawyers. According to AD, the police are also hunting a fourth Satudarah member - Michel B. who is active in Enschede.

The arrested Satudarah members are suspected of participating in a criminal organization that is involved in extortion, arms possession and drug trafficking, according to the Prosecutor.

In November last year, the Public Prosecutor filed a civil procedure to ban motorcycle gang Bandidos from the Netherlands. That case will appear in the court of Utrecht on Tuesday. Whether that will be an important 'test case', Wim de Bruin of the national office could not say to AD. "It's still too early."

Previously, the Public Prosecutor also tried to ban the Hells Angels, though that case failed.

Michael Ruperti, a lawyer that represents several Satudarah members in Noord-Brabant, called this action by the Public Prosecutor "pure rabble-rousing", according to the newspaper. Ruperti acknowledged that some individual Satudarah members are convicts, but that does not mean that Satudarah as a whole can be regarded as a criminal organization, he added. "That means that all Satudarah chapters and members work together structurally to commit criminal offenses. That is quite the accusation and, moreover, has never been demonstrated", the lawyer said.