Man held over prosecutor, policeman kill plot

26 November 2003

AMSTERDAM — The Den Bosch judiciary said on Wednesday the arrest of a 59-year-old man had thwarted the murder of a Roermond prosecutor and an Eindhoven policeman.

The Public Prosecution Office in Den Bosch said the man was arrested at about 2.30am on Tuesday on the A67 motorway at Venlo, on the German border, ANP reported.

It identified the threatened prosecutor as Paul van Hilten, who is closely involved in the fight against organised crime in the south of the Netherlands. He was known as a tough public prosecutor.

The Den Bosch prosecution office was tipped off at the end of October about the threatened killings of Van Hilten and policeman Fons Wijers and a special investigative team was set up.

Inquires led to the arrest of 59-year-old Dutch national Harrie D, who lives in Germany. He has previously been convicted of crimes against property, but is not known for violent crimes and his motive is still being investigated, an NOS news report said.

D allegedly contacted killers to carry out the murders, and the public prosecution has accused him of incitement to murder and being engaged in murder preparations. The suspect has denied the allegations.

Both the prosecutor and policeman are in hiding under 24-hour security. Extra security was implemented at the Roermond Court as Van Hilten continued to handle prosecution cases.

Meanwhile, chief Amsterdam prosecutor Koos Plooy — an official who is also closely involved in the fight against organised crime — has also been the target of a murder plot. Authorities said last month they had recently arrested a 26-year-old male suspect.

The suspect, identified as R Z, was already serving a jail term for robbing guards working with armoured car company Brink’s. Police detained the man after he allegedly made incriminating telephone calls from jail.

Reports surfaced in September that Dutch drugs and weapons gangs were planning to murder Plooy, who has been head of the serious crime department at the Amsterdam prosecution office since 2001. He was placed under 24-hour security at the start of August, but continued working at the Amsterdam Court.

Justice officials said the Dutch criminal network in Amsterdam was behind the planned killing and had hired Albanian killers to carry out the murder. The criminal networks are mainly involved in the international drug trade, weapons dealing and assassinations.

Plooy was also well known for his prosecution of Pim Fortuyn killer Volkert van der Graaf and authorities took the threat very seriously, confirming that the information was reliable and credible. But authorities also stressed the threat was not linked to the Fortuyn murder case.

Subject: Dutch news