The arrest was reported on Wednesday by the public prosecutor, during a new preliminary session in the court in Arnhem. The latest suspect was arrested on Tuesday and is in restrictions, meaning he is only allowed to have contact with his lawyer. Well-informed sources report that it concerns a man who allegedly supplied a weapon with which the houses of employees of the fruit company were shot. The man had been reported to law enforcement for some time.
Attacks after party found cocaine
In 2019, the Groot Fresh Group in Hedel was chased by criminals who demanded millions, after the company found more than 400 kilos of cocaine between a shipment of bananas from Ecuador and called the police. The drugs were seized and destroyed. When the company failed to pay, attacks on employees followed in 2020 (eight explosive attacks) and 2021 (four house shootings and one arson). The main suspect is Ali G. (37) from Bussum. He was arrested in December 2020 and the judiciary hoped that the violence would stop. That hope turned out to be in vain, because the homes of employees were again attacked last summer.
In June 2021, the police arrested four men in a car on the A2 highway. The clothes they wear are covered with oil traces, and the judiciary holds them responsible for committing an attack with an incendiary bomb at a house in Tiel, earlier that evening. One of the suspects soon made confessional statements. During Wednesday’s hearing, his lawyer said his client had been “naive.” In October, two brothers from Amsterdam were arrested, according to justice they would have had a guiding role. One of them was detained in De Schie in Rotterdam from January 2021 to June 2021, together with main suspect Ali G.. According to the judiciary, Ali G. would have given instructions through him for the new attacks. He was arrested in his cell last December.
Evidence via prison phone
Evidence for this comes from (among other things) conversations conducted via the prison telephone, which detainees can use to call family or friends. These conversations are not monitored by default, but are stored for some time. In recent months, the police have listened to and elaborated on those conversations. According to the detectives, it appears from those conversations that 21-year-old Adam M. (who was detained with Ali G.) gave orders for attacks. He in turn would have received it from ‘the orange coat’, which according to the detectives would be a nickname for Ali G.
Other evidence brings justice from a smuggled in mini-phone that was found in De Schie. Call records show that there was contact between that device in the Rotterdam prison and a device that was used by one of the attackers. Who exactly called from prison with that mini-device is still being investigated.
Ali G. himself denies being involved in the attacks. However, he has repeatedly indicated to the detectives that he knows the blackmailers and that he could play a mediating role. During an interrogation, he himself indicated that he thinks that the attacks will not stop. “At least three more are being committed,” he told an investigating judge. No announcements were made on Wednesday about the role of a detained Achmea employee who leaked the address details of the daughter of the director of De Groot. This news site revealed on Wednesday that it would have passed on suspicious information.
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