Billionaire drug lord linked to plot to kill the heir to the Dutch throne is on the run after being accidentally released

A billionaire drug lord linked to assassination and kidnapping threats against the heir to the Dutch throne is on the run – after being accidentally released from prison.

An alleged leader of the Mocro mafia, Karim Bouyakhrichan, 46, was arrested in January following a money laundering investigation, but was accidentally released when a Dutch extradition request went haywire.

He then went on the run this month in what was called “disturbing news.” The suspected cartel chief is also linked to a plot to kidnap Princess Amalia, the heir to the Dutch throne.

The Mocro mafia includes several major cocaine cartels and is suspected of smuggling the drug worth billions of euros over the past fifteen years.

The photo shows Queen Máxima and Princess Amalia

Security personnel stand guard outside the court bunker in Amsterdam-Osdorp for a hearing where Dutch drug lord Ridouan Taghi of Mocro Mafia was given a life sentence

These cartels have been linked by the Dutch media to threats against the Dutch princess the BBC.

Kidnapping threats from the organized crime world have even led to the princess living in Spain for at least a year, it emerged last week.

Bouyakhrichan was hunted by Interpol for at least five years and was one of the most wanted criminals in Europe.

His brother, Samir, is suspected of founding a branch of the Dutch-Moroccan group Mocro Mafia before being shot in 2014.

And it is claimed that Bouyakhrichan then took over. He was accidentally released when Dutch authorities requested his extradition.

This was initially approved, but local officials insisted he be charged in Spain, where he was being held.

Ultimately, the earl granted the appeal lodged by his lawyers and ordered his release, pending extradition, if he posted bail of £43,000.

Local media reported that “less onerous” measures, such as forcing him to give up his passport and report to court every 15 days, were considered sufficient to address the risk of flight.

And he reported regularly to court from February 22 to April 1, when he disappeared.

A spokesperson for the Dutch Public Prosecution Service told the BBC that it is ‘unknown’ why he was released from prison.

Dutch drug baron Ridouan Taghi was given a life sentence on February 27, 2024 for a series of murders that his gang, the so-called ‘Mocro Mafia’, led by Taghi, committed between 2015 and 2017

The Dutch-Moroccan leader of the Mocro mafia, Ridouan Taghi, was arrested in 2019

In 2022, Dutch police ordered their Princess of Orange to leave her studies in Amsterdam and return home, fearing that the mafia was planning to kidnap her.

Authorities in the Netherlands have stepped up security measures to protect 18-year-old Crown Princess Catharina-Amalia, who left her parents’ royal residence in The Hague just weeks ago to begin her studies in the Dutch capital.

The teenage princess’s safety was jeopardized due to the nefarious plans of the infamous ‘Mocro Mafia’ – a division of the Moroccan mafia operating in the Netherlands and believed to control around a third of all cocaine trafficking in Europe.

The Dutch-Moroccan leader of the Mocro mafia, Ridouan Taghi, was arrested in 2019 and is currently in a Dutch prison.

De Telegraaf claimed that fears of an attempted kidnapping or attack on the princess were sparked when authorities discovered that Taghi had corresponded with one of his cronies who murdered a Dutch filmmaker in 2004.

The pair sent each other several letters containing passages from the Koran, which according to Dutch authorities may contain coded messages.

The Mocro mafia made headlines in the Netherlands in July 2021 when prominent investigative journalist Peter de Vries was gunned down in broad daylight on the streets of Amsterdam.