Dubai arrests two Dutch alleged drug traffickers, including Ridouan Taghi’s son
The police in Dubai have arrested two Dutch wanted for drug trafficking in two, separate arrests. One is Ridouan Taghi’s son, the other is a man wanted for drug trafficking in Belgium.
Sources in the judiciary told the Telegraaf on Thursday that Taghi’s son Adil was arrested in Dubai last week and is now being detained in an unknown location in the United Arab Emirates.
A spokesperson for the Public Prosecution Service (OM) could not confirm the arrest to the newspaper but did say that if Adil was arrested, it was not at the Netherlands’ request. That could mean his arrest came at the request of another country or as a result of an investigation in the UAE. Lawyers who represent several Dutch people in the UAE told the newspaper that Taghi’s son is accused of money laundering and participation in a criminal organization.
Another of Taghi’s sons, Faisal, was arrested in Dubai at the Netherlands’ request last year. He is suspected of drug trafficking, money laundering, and preparing for violent crimes. The Dutch authorities consider Faissal a key figure in his father’s criminal organization. He has been extradited to the Netherlands and is currently detained in the high-security prison in Vught, where his father is also imprisoned. The two aren’t allowed contact.
Separately, the Dubai police also arrested Stefan Papic, a 28-year-old Bosnian-Dutchman wanted for involvement in the Kriva Rochem case revolving around large-scale cocaine trafficking in Belgium, PZC reported.
Papic was arrested along with the Belgian drug baron Othman El Ballouti (36) in Dubai, according to the newspaper. The Bosnian-Dutchman is known as the right-hand man of Flor Bressers (37), the main suspect in the Kriva Rochem case.
The Belgian authorities have been hunting for Papic for years for his involvement in trafficking cocaine from Brazil to Belgium via an Antwerp water purification company.
Papic is also linked to a money laundering operation that ran via an art gallery connected to his family. According to PZC, this investigation is part of a larger probe into a Balkan cartel with ties to several big names in the criminal world, including Ridouan Taghi and Raffaele Imperiale.
The Belgian prosecutor has requested Papic’s extradition to stand trial in the Kriva Rochem case along with Flor and several other co-defendants. It is unclear when this will happen.
