A bureaucratic error, a lightness following the extradition request from the Netherlands: like this the king of Dutch drug traffickers, on Interpol’s European “most wanted” list, has been released from a Spanish prison, and now it is fugitive.
Karim Bouyakhrichan, 46, nicknamed “Taxi”, was arrested in January in Marbella on charges of money laundering, after an investigation that lasted 5 years. A few weeks ago the Dutch authorities had requested – and obtained from the Madrid court – theextradition. But something didn’t go as expected, perhaps due to a misunderstanding or a communication error: without the knowledge of the Dutch – according to what was reported by the prosecutor’s office in The Hague – the Malaga prison authorized, pending repatriation, the release on the prisoner’s bail, as requested by his lawyers. The passport is withdrawn and contact with the court is imposed every 15 days, which occurs until April 1st: after which, There is no further news of «Taxi».. “The escape is worrying, but we will find him.” the Spanish Minister of Justice Félix Bolaños commented confidently.
The fugitive he was among the most wanted criminals in all of Europe: upon the death of his brother Samir, who had founded one of the branches of the Dutch-Moroccan association Mocro Maffiahad inherited the empire, taking over the management ofextensive cocaine trafficking. The cartel laundered billions of euros by bringing drugs from South America through the ports of Amsterdam and Rotterdam, and according to Dutch media it had even threatened Princess Amalia, heir to the throne, with kidnapping, forcing her to move to Spain for a year for security reasons .
