Feb 7, 2024 at 1:56 PM Update: an hour ago
46 terabytes of information have been seized from the NCTV man suspected of leaking state secret information to the Moroccan intelligence services. The suspect worked for the security service for years.
The amount of information seized “corresponds to 11.5 billion A4 pages”, the public prosecutor clarified during the first public hearing in the secure court in Rotterdam.
64-year-old Ab El M. from Rotterdam held various positions during his many years of career at the National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security (NCTV), including analyst.
The Public Prosecution Service started its investigation into El M. in October 2023, after an official message from the AIVD. It stated that the suspect had been printing state secret information since at least April last year. El M. was arrested shortly afterwards at Schiphol, where he wanted to board a plane to Morocco.
According to the public prosecutor, he had “a large amount of data carriers” with him at the time. The Public Prosecution Service suspects him that he wanted to transfer this information to contacts in the Moroccan intelligence services. He allegedly printed this information at the NCTV office in The Hague and scanned it at home.
When a new position meant he was no longer allowed to print himself, he reportedly asked a colleague to do it for him. This woman is also a suspect in the investigation. She is no longer in custody.
El M. would not respond due to confidentiality obligations
The hearing in Rotterdam was public, to the dissatisfaction of El M.’s lawyer, who finds this “incomprehensible” “given his position”. “My client is being framed and the reasons are still unclear to us,” says lawyer Bart Nooitgedagt.
El M. has not said anything in the case so far. According to his lawyer, he would like to respond substantively, but he has “a duty of confidentiality from which he should first be released”. According to the lawyer, there is “a minefield that extends far beyond the court”.
El M. will remain in custody at least until the next hearing in May.
2024-02-07 15:23:06
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