POLICE ATTACKS BODY GUARDS TO ANNOY CRIMINALS

At the moment a new violent settlement in the criminal milieu just took place and a couple was shot in a car in a suburb of Amsterdam, the Dutch police and public prosecutors decided to change their strategy. They want to get under the feet of the top criminals by proceeding against the body-guards. Before the authorities considered criminal body-guards as a sort of non-important handyman. This is history because now there is more attention for the muscular accompaniment of top criminals.

All is caused by the fact that criminals made themselves less venerable by staying out of the practical criminal activities. That is one of the reasons why the Dutch police decided to annoy the criminals. Two body-guards are now on trial because they were arrested while having a gun and some hash. It is expected that it will be more difficult for the top criminal to undertake prohibited activities. The risks for the criminal entrepreneur will be a lot bigger.

Last year two Yugoslavian body-guards were also convicted for accompanying their boss, who was suspect in the unsuccessful attack of one of the kidnappers of beer magnate, the late Freddy Heineken. When the kidnapper was killed in the next attack, his body-guard was arrested, because he run after the killer while emptying his gun. The murderer escaped and the Yugoslavian body-guard was locked up for his cowboy-like behaviour. The public prosecutor at the time wanted to leave a strong signal in the direction of criminal body-guards. The sad thing is that the same prosecutor got a strong signal from the Dutch criminals that there was a price on his head. He is now heavily guarded.

The justice department also hopes for a different role of the body-guard in court. Some of the former criminal body-guards ended up as an infiltrator or a crown witness. Some do not make it, because they are killed before they can appear in court. The attempted murder mentioned earlier proves that the criminals still have freedom of movement. It might even have been a body guard that killed the couple. more features

October 10, 2003