Suspects had "military plan" for Amsterdam girl's abduction
According to the Public Prosecutor, now 4-year-old Insiya's abduction from her grandmother's Amsterdam apartment was done according to a "military plan". This plan was drawn up by suspect Willem V., was revealed in the court of Amsterdam on Monday. The 54-year-old man said in court that he completely misjudged the situation, NU.nl reports.
Insiya was violently abducted from her grandmother's apartment in Amsterdam in September 2016. She was 2 years old at the time. The Dutch authorities quickly concluded that her father was behind the kidnapping, but the girl had already been spirited away to Mumbai. She's been living there with her father ever since.
Willem V., who served in the navy for ten years, drew up the plan which he called 'Operation Barney'. He told the court that in 2016 he was approached by main suspect Eirk S., 60, a business relation whom he had befriended. The man told him that Insiya's father, Shehzad Hemani, needed help. There was a Skype conversation between Willem V., Erik S., Hemani and suspect Daniel C. Hemani said that Insiya was taken away by her mother against her will. "A one-sided story", Willem V. said on Monday. "I totally misjudged it."
He described the plan he drew up as a sales pitch to convince Hemani that he could do the job. The plan included a surveillance team and a team that would take the girl. Special phones were purchased. Willem V. was the man who knocked on Insiya's grandmother's door on September 29th, 2016. He told the grandmother that he was there to pick up the then 2-year-old girl, because she was being held against her will. Suspects Robert B. and Imran S., Hemani's cousin, were with him.
The three men entered the house. Imran S. took Insiya and got into a car, which Willem V. drove to a hotel in Hilversum. There the girl was handed over to her father.
That night, when Willem V. saw that an Amber Alert was issued for Insiya's disappearance, V. realized that he had made a big mistake. "Oh my god, what have I done", V. expressed his thoughts at the time. "The father told me that there would be a trespassing charge at most." The next day V. turned himself in to the police and was arrested.
The judge told V. that he was incredibly naive. It was agreed that he would be paid 20 thousand euros and violence was used in the abduction - something he took note of in his plan for 'Operation Barney', the judge said. "You wrote that down." When the court asked V. whether he should have known from the start that this was "bad business", the man nodded in agreement.
V. said that Erik S. told him he had to draw up a "solid document" so that it could be added to the bill. "But it was never the intention to use violence." Willem V. had cable ties with him on the day of the kidnapping, and Robert B. had a taser.
Of the six suspects charged with involvement in Insiya's abduction, only Willem V. and Daniel C. actually showed up in court on Monday. C. previously stated that he knows nothing about the abduction. On Monday he refused to answer the court's question, appealing to his right to remain silent. Co-suspects said that C. was one of the organizers of the abduction. According to the court, there is also supporting evidence of his involvement. But C. remained silent.
In court on Monday it was also revealed that Hemani ignored the various requests from the Dutch authorities for him to make a statement and be questioned. The court gave the Public Prosecutor until May to get a statement from Hemani, otherwise the case against him will continue without his side of the story.
The trial against the six suspects continues on Tuesday.
