The suspect, who faces a preliminary court hearing on Monday morning, was found with two axes engraved with “Alexia”, “Mossad” and Sieg Heil, which is a verbal salute used by Nazis.
A 33-year-old man suspected of being a far-right extremist is in custody in the Netherlands after a foiled plot to kill two Dutch princesses, Princess Catharina-Amalia and her younger sister Princess Alexia.
The suspect, who faces a preliminary court hearing on Monday morning, was found with two axes engraved with “Alexia”, “Mossad” and Sieg Heil, which is a verbal salute used by Nazis.
Authorities also revealed that he had a handwritten note with the words “Amalia”, “Alexia” and “bloodbath” when he was arrested in The Hague in February.
However, a motive for the plan has still not been revealed by the authorities.
Despite the security concerns, the Dutch royal family pressed ahead with their Koningsdag or King’s Day celebrations on Monday, joining street festivities, greeting well-wishers, and taking to the ice. The national holiday marks the 59th birthday of King Willem-Alexander.
This is not the first time Princess Catharina-Amalia’s safety has been called into question. Back in 2020, she was forced to go into hiding after a man directed a series of messages threatening her with rape and violence.
Two years later, she was compelled to vacate her student accommodation in Amsterdam over safety concerns, retreating to the heavily fortified royal palace in The Hague.
Queen Maxima captured the toll this took on her daughter at the time and said, “She can’t live in Amsterdam and she can’t really go outside [the palace]. It has enormous consequences on her life.”
The threats didn’t end there. Fearing she had been marked as a kidnapping target by drug cartels, Princess Catharina-Amalia, who is fluent in Spanish, eventually fled the Netherlands altogether, spending a year living in Madrid.
Intercepted communications between gang members had placed both her and Mark Rutte, who was serving as Dutch prime minister at the time, in the crosshairs as potential targets.
About Europe’s Formidable Drug Lord – Ridouan Taghi
Ridouan Taghi, once regarded as the most formidable drug lord in Europe, dismissed any suggestion of a plot against the princess before ultimately receiving a life sentence for five murders at the conclusion of the Marengo Trial in 2024.
Yet the shadow of violence loomed large even before his sentencing. Taghi is believed to have orchestrated three killings tied to the trial proceedings. Among the victims were a lawyer, a television journalist, and the brother of a key prosecution witness.
The succession of contract killings fuelled growing alarm that Taghi continued to orchestrate his criminal network from behind bars and that the Netherlands had descended into narco-state territory, held hostage by the brutal power struggles of organised crime.
