'Undercover agents posed as criminals and kidnapped suspect'
Undercover agents briefly kidnapped a suspect of extorting employees of a fruit transport company in Hedel. They did so as part of the investigation into the case. The suspect's lawyer, Peter Plasman, says that following reports in The Telegraph.
The officers posed as serious criminals and wanted to find out who the suspect was working for. He was picked off the street and put in a van, suggesting a kidnapping. According to Plasman, he was heavily threatened and had to tell who was behind the threats and attacks against the staff of De Groot Fresh Food Group. "If he did not do that then something would be done to him or the family," Plasman said.
According to the lawyer, the suspect allegedly made a statement under pressure. "He had no doubt that he was dealing with serious criminals." It was only during a witness interview that he learned it was a police action.
He decided afterwards to fully cooperate and open up, Plasman told NIS. The suspect was employed as a driver and would not always have known what for. He was interrogated for three days by the criminal investigation department during which the "kidnapping" was also discussed.
Plasman says his client was so shocked at the time that he really would have declared anything, whether it was true or not.
Acute threat
The police often pose as criminals in undercover operations, but a kidnapping with serious threats is new to the lawyer. According to Plasman, the investigating agencies were expecting actual deaths in the case, after which this unorthodox approach was chosen.
"According to them, the threat was so acute that they saw no other way than this," he says. "Presumably the investigative agencies thought: as long as we get results, we will take any illegality for granted."
The prosecutor's office (OM) and police are not commenting on the case. "The case has not yet gone to trial. As part of the investigation, we are therefore not making any statements about it," said a spokesman for the prosecutor's office.
She does say that the use of a heavier investigative tool in general, such as an undercover operation, is justified in serious cases. "It is then considered whether such a means is proportionate," the spokesperson said.
Staff data on the street
Management and employees of De Groot will be threatened and extorted since the company reported the discovery of 400 kilos of cocaine in a batch of bananas a year and a half ago. Due to a blunder by the Public Prosecutor's Office, 300 names of (former) employees ended up in the hands of criminals.
Since then, there have been attacks on their homes. These included a hand grenade on the doorstep of a director's son and two employees' homes were shot at.
In December last year and in January, already multiple suspects apprehended. They all came from the Gooi area. The suspect against whom the undercover action was used was also put into the van in the Gooi.
March 30 is the first hearing at the court in Arnhem.
