The AN releases seven alleged members of the Dutch mafia when the term of preventive detention expires

The Prosecutor's Office accuses them of drug and arms trafficking, including war, as part of a criminal organization

MADRID, 21 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The National Court (AN) has agreed to release seven alleged members of the Dutch mafia -- accused of drug trafficking and alleged criminal organization -- upon expiration of the maximum term of four years of preventive detention before the trial was held.

In a car, to which Europa Press has had access, the magistrates of the Third Section of the Criminal Chamber have considered it pertinent to order the provisional release of one of the accused, Marco H., defended by the Vox Legis office.

Legal sources have indicated that the same decision has been adopted for six others under investigation, including the alleged leaders of the alleged criminal organization.

According to the resolution consulted, the National Court has established a battery of precautionary measures. Thus, it has ordered the defendants to prove in court an address and a telephone number; It has forced them to appear as many times as they are called: and it has prohibited them from leaving the country without authorization from the court. "Failure to comply with any of these obligations may lead to their imprisonment," the magistrates have pointed out.

The seven defendants who are now free were in prison at the request of the Anti-Drug Prosecutor's Office, which attributes to them alleged crimes against public health committed within a criminal organization, as well as alleged crimes of depositing weapons of war, illegal possession of weapons and falsity in official document.

Within the framework of the investigation, which is being carried out in the Central Court of Instruction Number 5 of the National Court, Judge Santiago Pedraz has agreed to file the part of the investigations related to the alleged crime of money laundering that was attributed to several of the defendants considering that it has not been sufficiently accredited, as stated in a car collected by this agency.

In the indictment of May 2021, to which Europa Press has had access, prosecutor Ignacio de Lucas explains that the origin of the case dates back to 2018, when agents of the Civil Guard's Drug and Organized Crime Unit began to investigate a criminal network "made up almost exclusively of Dutch citizens and based mainly in the province of Malaga".

The Public Ministry maintains that this alleged organization "intended to introduce narcotic substances into Spain, although it had links with other countries of the European Union such as Portugal, the Netherlands or Romania." Specifically, he was trying to introduce cocaine into Spanish territory "under the guise of importing fruit, through containers from Costa Rica."

The Prosecutor's Office, however, insists that the "span" of the infrastructure of this alleged organization "was much broader than the cocaine market", since "it also had the capacity to operate throughout the entire criminal cycle of trafficking of drugs that included the manufacture, distribution and sale of synthetic drugs".

In addition, the Public Prosecutor's Office assures that the alleged network -- to "protect" its market and "access" that of other competitors -- would have "stockpiled numerous firearms and weapons of war that they hid, but to which they had easy access." , and that they were prepared for an eventual episode of violence".

Anti-Drug locates Hans V. and Marco H. as "leaders" of the alleged criminal group, considering that both would have "compartmentalized and fragmented the different activities necessary for the organization to function."

In his indictment, the prosecutor underlines that both, in order to make their identification difficult and the preponderant role they played, "gave their instructions through third parties, and only participated in personal meetings with their circle of trust in nearby hotels." of Puerto Marina (Benalmádena) in momentous and determining moments".

The presumed leaders would have constituted, always in the name of others, a corporate network capable of generating the "appearance" of importing legal merchandise and its subsequent transportation, and, at the same time, they would also have an infrastructure with "numerous buildings, warehouses in industrial estates, homes, garages and vehicles that made their activity possible".