'Polish mafia': 'He didn't have to be killed, otherwise he couldn't pay'
September 4, 2023

Prison sentences of between ten months and seven years were demanded in the court in Zwolle against five Polish suspects of assault, arms imports and arson. According to the Public Prosecution Service, the five were brought to the Netherlands by one of the suspects ( Krystian M. ) of the murder of crime journalist Peter R. de Vries to carry out criminal jobs.

During a search as part of another investigation, weapons and several telephones were found in a home in The Hague in October 2021. For example, the National Criminal Investigation Department came across a group of men suspected of having acted as brokers and/or executors of serious crimes. Two suspects in investigation 26Woltz were also found in the house during that search. A total of eleven suspects are on trial in this case.

'Man fucked up'
According to the judiciary, the five Polish suspects in investigation 26Woltz participated in a series of violent jobs in various compositions. For example, a victim in Eindhoven is hammered in July 2020. One of the suspects says in a tapped conversation that 'he screwed up a man in Eindhoven in a forest'. Also in encrypted Sky ECC chats, a hammer passes several times and people talk about ' he got hammer his knee ' and that ' guy is broken for sure' .

'Hitting disabled'
In September 2021, the ex-husband of Ridouan Taghi's sister must be beaten "disabled" in Lopik . The intended victim is said to have harassed Taghi's sister. According to the Public Prosecution Service, alleged murder broker Krystian M. (28) sent Pawel J. and two others to Lopik to beat up the ex considerably. Chats indicate that shooting should be done 'on hands and knees'. The use of a sledgehammer is also referred to as 'full knee hands'. In the end, it does not come from the abuse of the intended victim.

arson
According to the Public Prosecution Service, three of the suspects are also the men who set fire to a business premises in Best in August 2021. Camera images show how the three men come to the business premises at night with two jerry cans with a fire-accelerating liquid. The men talk in Polish and drive off in a white Renault Clio. A glove and a pack of cigarettes with DNA traces pointing to the suspects are later found near the getaway car.

Armored doors with code
In December 2021 there is a job in Groningen. Three of the suspects, possibly armed with axes, visit someone in a business building to collect an outstanding debt. The job fails, one of them tells in a recorded conversation:

'We also went to Groningen. It was a fortress. Armored doors with bolt and code. We went inside and a woman and a guy came to us and a Russian (…) There was no chance.' Another suspect states: 'Actually, the three of us were supposed to go to the man and hit him. We had to scare him. We also had to record it, film it. (…) he shouldn't be killed, otherwise he couldn't pay.'

Moroccan rapper
That same month, a Moroccan rapper is also trapped in The Hague and robbed of his shoes, jacket and telephone. One of the Polish suspects tells several people that they were actually after an expensive watch: 'He had a watch for 240,000 Old Ones, a doorway down…a doorway down…broken fingers. Completely undressed. I say: 'I will kill you. Where's the watch?' I threw his key to the Golf in the ditch. I smashed up his whole car.'

Lucky Luke
In addition to assaults, Pawel J. (29) and Robert M. (40) are suspected of importing a pistol and an automatic firearm with ammunition and silencer. They will be found in January 2022 when the police pull over Pawel J.'s car near Zwartemeer, near the German-Dutch border. It already followed from tapped conversations that it was the intention that an 'iron', 'what Lucky Luke had', should be picked up from another country. Later in these conversations it is also discussed that it is about one of those things that one only uses once.

The OM is demanding seven years in prison against Pawel J. and Robert M. Prison sentences of between ten and 54 months have been demanded against the other three suspects.

Weapon arsenal
In the 26Woltz investigation, a large arsenal of weapons was found in March 2022 in a storage room of a house in Alphen aan de Rijn. It concerned 22 small arms, 22 automatic weapons including sniper rifles and four anti-tank weapons (bazookas). Five men will be tried later in September in connection with this weapons stash. According to the judiciary, the weapon stash probably contained the weapon with which Peter R. de Vries was shot.

In addition, later this month, four people will stand trial for the shooting of 'tattookiller' Cor P. in the Dominican Republic on January 4, 2022.

A verdict in the case is expected on November 14.