Cabinet confirms error: detainees Ridouan Taghi and Saïd R. had brief contact

State Secretary Ingrid Coenradie (Justice and Security) wrote in a letter to Parliament that several detainees in the Extra Secure Institution (EBI) in Vught had contact with each other for approximately twenty seconds due to an error. "This is highly undesirable from a safety perspective, and I have therefore asked DJI to thoroughly evaluate this and take additional measures where possible," the minister said.

She does not mention which detainees had contact with each other "for security reasons." According to several sources, it concerns the Marengo main suspects, Ridouan Taghi and Saïd R. Both were sentenced to life imprisonment by the court earlier this year for, among other things, involvement in multiple liquidations. The appeal is still ongoing.

On Thursday, it was announced that Taghi had been moved within the EBI at the end of July and is now in a department that is only separated by glass from Saïd R. and Willem Holleeder, who is also sentenced to life imprisonment. Taghi's detention lawyer, Thomas van der Horst, had already stated that there had been contact between them without elaborating further. Various political parties subsequently asked the State Secretary for clarification.

In February, Taghi, Saïd R., and Mario R. were sentenced to life in prison in the Marengo trial involving six assassinations, four attempted killings, and plans to murder several others. The other 14 suspects in the case got sentences ranging from 21 months to 27 years in prison.

According to Coenradie, it is possible "in incidental situations" that there is "brief visual contact between prisoners who are not placed together, under the direct supervision of staff." This can happen, for example, when a prisoner is taken from his cell for an appointment with his lawyer while other prisoners are busy with the program outside their cell at that moment.

His son Faissal is now held in the department where Taghi was previously held. He was recently extradited from Dubai to the Netherlands. Faissal's lawyers strongly object to the extremely strict regime under which the 23-year-old Faissal is being held, as he is in total isolation. They call it "inhuman" and "disproportionate."

Faissal is suspected of participating in a criminal organization that deals with international drug trafficking, money laundering, and preparing violent crimes. He is said to have continued his father's criminal organization from his home in Dubai.