Police missed many signals in run-up to attorney, crime journalist's murders: report

The police ignored multiple warnings about the three murders around Nabil B., the key witness in the Marengo assassinations case around Ridouan Taghi. Due to internal blunders, warnings about threats against B.’s brother Reduan, his lawyer Derk Wiersum, and his confidant Peter R. de Vries did not lead to better security in the run-up to their assassinations, RTL Nieuws reports based on a draft report from the Dutch Safety Board (OVV).

The OVV investigated what went wrong with the Surveillance & Security system, which was supposed to organize the protection of the three murdered men.

The OVV report shows how, in particular, the security and information branch of the police - responsible for making threat analyses - ignored warnings about threats from the Taghi gang. And crucial information from other police departments did not make its way to the Surveillance & Security system in time to make a difference. Another damning conclusion was that tensions between crime journalist De Vries and the Public Prosecution Service (OM) stood in the way of his protection.

According to the OVV, the police’s information service (DRIO) only accepted “verifiable information” as a reason to increase the level of security for those involved in the Marengo process. That basically means only information that comes from police sources. “Soft” information, such as warnings from Nabil B.’s family that members of Taghi’s gang were harassing them or watching and following lawyer Wiersum, did not lead to better security.

Reduan B.

On 23 March 2018, the OM presented Nabil B. as a key witness in the case against Ridouan Taghi and 17 alleged members of his gang. The Witness Protection Team arranged security for Nabil B., his ex-partner, and their child. But the authorities underestimated the danger to the rest of B.’s family.

One family member warned that, on the day the OM shared B.’s incriminating statements with lawyers from the Marengo trial, a member of Taghi’s gang had shown up at their home in Utrecht, demanding that B. withdraw his testimony. After the OM announced B.’s status as the key witness to the media, his brother Reduan asked for personal security, fearing for his life.

But the Central Netherlands police concluded that Reduan was not eligible for extra security. According to the OVV, “actively looking for substantiation of a conceivable threat hardly took place.” Extra wry is that Amsterdam police officers asked whether Nabil B.’s relatives needed protection in the city, but the Central Netherlands police said it was unnecessary.

Less than a week later, Reduan B. was shot dead at his business in Amsterdam Noord. Shurandy S. was convicted of this murder and sentenced to 28 years in prison.

Derk Wiersum

After Reduan’s death, the authorities arranged strict security for his family. But security for the lawyers representing Nabil B. was less extensive after the initial shock faded. Both Derk Wiersum and the security services felt that lawyers are replaceable and, therefore, not a logical target. “An untested assumption,” the OVV said. Nevertheless, that assumption led to police patrols around Wiersum’s house being reduced from once an hour to six times a day in the summer of 2018.

In the spring of 2019, Nabil B.’s lawyers raised concerns about their safety because of threats to Peter R. de Vries, who acted as B.’s confidential adviser. B.’s family also informed the police that the lawyers were being watched. But the authorities did nothing with these signals.

In the summer of 2019, the police’s Summ-IT system registered that a Renault Megane with false license plates, which was associated with Taghi’s gang, had been driving regular circles around Wiersum’s home in Amsterdam’s Buitenveldert neighborhood. But the police officers responsible for analyzing threats around protected persons did not have access to SUmm-IT and, therefore, did not notice that Taghi’s gang was watching Wiersum’s house weeks before his murder.

On 18 September 2019, Derk Wiersum was shot dead near his home. Giermo B. and Moreno B. were convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison for the defense attorney’s murder. The appeal in their case is currently ongoing.

Peter R. de Vries.

Even after two murders directly connected to Nabil B., a pattern of deafness to external warnings persisted, the OVV said. Also, with Peter R. de Vries’s murder, the police ignored crucial information that he was in danger.

De Vries did not get the same security as Nabil B.’s lawyers, which was arranged by the National Coordinator for Terrorism and Security. De Vries only got surveillance from the Central Netherlands police, coordinated by the OM. According to the OVV, this resulted in a conflict of interest that hindered the crime journalist’s security. De Vries assisted Nabil B. with disputes with the OM and, at the same time, received protection from that same body.

In September 2020, police informants tipped the police that the team around Nabil B. was in danger. Because this tip came from the police’s own sources, it was taken seriously, and the threat assessment was raised from “possible” to “probable.” The police put De Vries’s home under surveillance, and the journalist could ask for police escorts if he felt he needed it.

In June 2021, an employee of the garage where De Vries parks his car when appearing on RTL Boulevard warned the police that a man “with striking tattoos” had followed the crime journalist as he walked to the studio. The police viewed surveillance footage of the garage but did not see the man and did nothing with the information. Because the tip did not come from the police themselves, it was not shared with the unit responsible for De Vries’s protection, the OVV said.

On 6 July 2021, Peter R. de Vries was gunned down on Lange Leidsedwarsstraat in Amsterdam as he walked from the RTL Boulevard studio to his car parked in his usual spot in the nearby garage. He died of his injuries on 15 July 2021. The case against the suspected perpetrators, Delano G. and Kamil E., is still ongoing. The OM demanded life in prison against them.

The OVV will publish its final report later this year. A spokesperson would not answer RTL’s additional questions about the draft report, the broadcaster wrote.