Dutch court convicts 17 members of criminal gang and sentences 3 to life imprisonment

By MIKE CORDER
Associated Press

AMSTERDAM (AP) — A Dutch court has convicted 17 suspects in the long-running trial of an underworld gang that planned a string of killings. Judges on Tuesday handed life sentences to three of them, including the country’s formerly most-wanted fugitive Ridouan Taghi. The trial and three more murders linked to the case have enthralled and rattled the Netherlands, exposing the deadly reality of the country’s drug-fueled underworld. Taghi and several co-defendants did not attend the final day of their trial. The verdicts were read out at a tightly guarded courthouse on the outskirts of the Dutch capital. Heavily armed police officers wearing body armor, helmets and ski masks patrolled streets around the court.