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Two more suspects were arrested in connection with the murder of prominent Dutch crime reporter Peter R. de Vries, prosecutors said Tuesday, raising the number held in the case to five.
A 27-year-old man was taken into custody on the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao, while another man, aged 26, was apprehended in Spain. Both men are Dutch.
The man in Curacao “will shortly be transferred to the Netherlands, while Dutch authorities have asked Spain to extradite the suspect arrested in Spain, which could take a few weeks”, the Public Prosecution Service said in a statement.
Peter R. de Vries, 64, died nine days after he was shot in the head on July 6, 2021, in a crime that prosecutors say was linked to his role in the trial of a Dutch drugs mafia kingpin.
Prosecutors declined to give further information but local media said the men filmed the attack on De Vries, who was gunned down on broad daylight in an Amsterdam street minutes after he left a television studio.
On Monday, law officials arrested a third suspect, who was already in custody in connection with a separate murder carried out in October last year.
Two other suspects, Dutchman Delano G., 22, and a Pole named as Kamil E., 36, went on trial last month in connection with De Vries’ murder.
Prosecutors accuse Delano G. of pulling the trigger and Kamil E. of both driving the getaway car and carrying out surveillance prior to the shooting.
Judges are to hand down a verdict in the case on July 14. The prosecution has demanded life sentences for both men.
Both deny involvement in the shooting and declined to testify in court.
De Vries first won fame for reporting on the 1983 kidnapping of Heineken millionaire Freddy Heineken.
Prosecutors say they suspect de Vries was killed because of his role as advisor to a state witness, Nabil B., in the trial of the Netherlands’ most wanted man.
The latter, alleged drugs baron Ridouan Taghi, was arrested in Dubai in 2019.
The brother and lawyer of Nabil B. have both been shot since he turned state’s witness.
jhe/gil