The suspect who was arrested on Thursday afternoon during a police action on the A2 due to a suspicious situation surrounding crime journalist John van den Heuvel is 36-year-old Mourad O. from Utrecht. That writes Het Parool. According to the Public Prosecution Service, he is suspected of preparing a serious crime. Nothing further has been said about the nature of that suspicion and that crime.

Mourad O. has a criminal record, but not for serious cases. He was called in the spring of 2021 as a witness in the Marengo trial against Ridouan Taghi and co-defendants. Het Parool reports that Mourad O. was previously convicted because of a possible rip deal from a cannabis nursery. In the past, he was in a car that was linked to a serious crime.

In the spring of 2021, O. was interrogated as a witness in the Marengo trial. He was summoned because suspect Mohamed el A. (of, among other things, the liquidation of Ranko Scekic in 2016) had made an extensive statement that he hoped Mourad O. would (partly) confirm. However, he invoked his 'non-disclosure' and remained silent.

Mourad O. knows several players in the periphery around Ridouan Taghi, but it is still unclear whether he played a prominent role in the criminal environment.