A stunning legal blunder in Spain has led to the release of one of the top leaders of the dangerous Mocro Maffia.
Firass Taghi, cousin of Ridouan Taghi – the most feared figure in the Dutch crime syndicate — was released despite the fact that Dutch prosecutors had secured his extradition.
According to court documents seen by El Español, the National Court in Madrid (Audiencia Nacional) ordered Firass Taghi’s release on September 12.
The court ruled that Spanish police had missed the maximum legal deadline to hand him over under a European Arrest Warrant.
The court stressed that, by law, an extradited suspect must be transferred within 10 days of the extradition decision becoming final – extendable only in exceptional cases.
In Taghi’s case, that deadline had long expired with ‘no justification’ for the delay, forcing the judges to lift the detention order.
Who is Firass Taghi?
Firass, considered by investigators to be the de facto number two of the Mocro Maffia, was arrested in Algeciras last summer during a sweeping international cocaine trafficking operation via Antwerp port.
Dutch prosecutors accuse him of helping to run a sprawling drug network and of ties to violent organised crime.
His cousin Ridouan is already jailed in the Netherlands, convicted of orchestrating murders and threats against public figures including Dutch Princess Amalia, who was forced into hiding, and journalist Peter R. de Vries, later shot dead.
Members of the Taghi clan have also been linked to the attempted assassination of Spanish politician Alejo Vidal-Quadras, allegedly on behalf of Iranian intelligence.
A repeat failure
The case has echoes of a similar fiasco in 2024, when another Mocro Maffia boss, Karim Bouyakhrichan, also walked free in Spain after procedural mistakes. He later vanished.
In both cases, the problem lay not in the extradition decisions themselves – which had been approved – but in the failure to carry them out within the strict EU deadlines.
Critics say the system of monitoring European Arrest Warrants in Spain is dangerously flawed.
Ports like Algeciras have long been gateways for international drug shipments, making the region strategically important for organised crime groups.
The Dutch justice system is said to be ‘furious’ at Spain for allowing a high-profile suspect to slip through their hands.
Read more Andalucia news at the Spanish Eye.
