Colin
DUTCH King of Cocaine Ridouan Taghi has a simple, blood-chilling rule for those who cross him: “If you talk, you die.”
As the “undisputed leader” of the so-called Mocro maffia — which has left a trail of death and mayhem across the Netherlands — it’s no idle boast.
Finally caged for life last week after a spate of gruesome murders, Taghi ran a “well-oiled killing machine”, the trial judge insisted.
During the hearing, a supergrass’s brother and lawyer were slain by hitmen, while the most famous TV journalist in the Netherlands was also gunned down.
Dutch drugs and organised crime expert Dr Teun Voeten, 62, told me: “After their first kill some people get a sense of empowerment at taking someone else’s life — and that can get addictive.
“At the end, I think Taghi loved violence, blood and power.”
Crime lords in the Netherlands — a drugs production and clearing house that helps supply British users — are staggeringly brutal.
A severed head was left outside an Amsterdam shisha lounge where rival mobsters gathered, its bloodshot eyes peering through the windows to warn those inside.
And pictures found on Taghi’s phone revealed a naked woman strapped to a dentist’s chair in a torture chamber.
Little wonder that this land of tulips and windmills, famed for its liberal tolerance, has been called a “narco state 2.0”.
