Espionage scandal: NCTV worker in court for leaking state secrets to Morocco
Today, the trial starts in what may well be the largest espionage case in the Netherlands. Abderrahim el M., a former employee of the National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security (NCTV), is suspected of leaking state secrets to the Moroccan secret service for years.
“The case is unique and possibly one of the biggest security scandals we’ve seen in recent decades,” Rowin Jansen, a lecturer at Radboud University who specializes in national security law, told NOS.
The now 66-year-old man from Rotterdam worked at the NCTV as an expert on Salafism and jihadism, regularly writing reports on this subject for the counterterrorism agency. According to the Public Prosecution Service (OM), M. simultaneously worked as a spy for the Moroccan secret service, at least since 2020, allegedly exploiting the Dutch authorities’ trust in him to pass on large amounts of classified information.
In October 2023, the Dutch intelligence service MIVD warned the NCTV that M. was printing highly confidential documents at work, taking the documents home, and then bringing them to Morocco. The AIVD caught him printing the documents on a secretly installed camera at the NCTV.
M. was arrested a short time later at Schiphol Airport, shortly before he was to board a plane to Morocco. The authorities found several USB drives on him, containing a large amount of data, including over 900 classified documents.
According to the AIVD, M. has had contact with the Moroccan secret service since at least 2020. In return for the state secrets, M. was allegedly treated to free family vacations to Morocco. The police investigation revealed that M. flew back and forth with his family on a very regular basis, and that several of these trips were paid for by the Moroccan intelligence service.
After his arrest, the man vehemently denied that he shared classified information.
A colleague of M. was also arrested. She allegedly shared her login details with M. when he could no longer access state secret documents due to a new position. She told the authorities that she had no idea of M.’s espionage activities.
Today, the court will question M. about the allegations. On Wednesday, the OM will recommend a sentence against the man.
