Amsterdam cocaine kingpin Karim Bouyakhrichan fled ‘when a camera crew stood in front of his Spanish home’

Karim Bouyakhrichan, also known as ‘Taxi’, is the older brother of cocaine trafficker Samir ‘Scarface’ Bouyakhrichan, who was liquidated in Spain in 2014. He is regarded as his brother’s successor within both the criminal environment and the investigative services. In an investigation in The Hague, he is suspected of large-scale trafficking in hard and soft drugs.

Karim Bouyakhrichan was arrested on the Costa del Sol in early January as part of a Spanish investigation. He is suspected of laundering 6 million euros and membership of a criminal organization. After his arrest in Spain, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service requested his extradition in the context of the Hague case.

Bouyakhrichan was not placed in extradition detention but was released on bail after paying a bail of 50,000 euros and surrendering his passport. A week ago he had to report to the court in Málaga, but he did not show up. He has been on the run ever since.

John van den Heuvel

According to his Dutch lawyer Louis de Leon, Bouyakhrichan ran away after crime reporter John van den Heuvel, together with the Spanish police, stood at his home with a camera crew to make recordings for the Videoland program. The hunt for the Mocro Mafia.

“My client was in shock,” De Leon said. “The fact that the Spanish police are going to tell Dutch journalists where he lives, and even do an interview at his house, is extremely dangerous for him.”

In the episode in question the area around the house is completely blurred. Journalist John van den Heuvel is conducting an interview with the Spanish police officer ‘Daniel’ at the compound when he bumps into Karim Bouyakhrichan. Bouyakhrichan reacts somewhat irritated and asks the crime reporter not to film. The camera is then turned off.

Death list

Karim Bouyakhrichan is one of the key figures in an underworld war in which many liquidations have already taken place. He has been on a death list for years. “My client understands that, following the broadcast, plans have again been made to kill him,” said De Leon, who does not say he knows where his client is now. “I understand that he ran away. He is not going to sit around and wait for his enemies to find him.”

John van den Heuvel has his reservations about that claim. “His client could of course have simply gone back to prison or gone to the police instead of fleeing,” said the crime reporter.

Bouyakhrichan’s flight is now causing great commotion in Spain. The Spanish investigation into Bouyakhrichan took five years. The fact that he was released on bail while the justice department already feared a risk of flight makes the issue even more painful. “It is worrying news,” Spanish Justice Minister Felix Bolaños responded during a press conference, in which he further said that the investigative services are doing everything they can to bring Bouyakhrichan to justice.