The Dutch police almost arrested a wrong man in Dubai in the search for Ridouan T., it writes AD Thursday evening. The man came into the picture after he met lawyers Nico Meijering and Leon van Kleef, who were shadowed by agents.
The newspaper relies on pages of the official report against T. that were recently added to the file.
The police were aware of an appointment by Meijering and Van Kleef, who would meet a client in Dubai on June 19, through the shadow operation, it writes. AD. Officers had been tipped off that T. could also join a meeting of Meijering, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) confirmed earlier.
During the conversation a second man would indeed have appeared, who showed external signs of T. Because the man was wearing glasses and a cap, officers thought he was trying to hide his identity, according to the newspaper.
The order would then have been given from the Netherlands to arrest the suspected man. Ultimately, no action was taken because local agents saw insufficient evidence that the man was actually T.
No action taken due to doubts in Dubai
The shadow operation led to a lot of commotion among lawyers, who felt that the right of non-disclosure had been violated. The Public Prosecution justified the action by stating that the arrest of T. at that time had the highest priority, because of the suspicions against his person. He is held responsible for multiple liquidations and attempts to do so.
Meijering and Van Kleef tell in a response to it AD that the new details about the shadow operation “raise more questions than it answers”.
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