Missing Moroccan-Dutch Businessman’s Money Resurfaces in Tangier Six Years After Marbella Abduction
Jamal, a Moroccan-Dutch businessman abducted by men posing as police officers in Marbella in August 2020, remains missing. A new investigation in Tangier is now seeking to recover large sums of money that his family says it entrusted to a property developer.
Six years after her husband’s dramatic disappearance in Spain, Jamal’s wife is now fighting on another front: his money. Tangier’s judicial police have opened an investigation following a complaint against a property developer in the city. According to the daily Al Akhbar, the family claims that the man received large sums from Jamal before his abduction and has not returned them.
The developer was questioned by Moroccan investigators. Police are seeking to establish the circumstances in which the money was handed over and what it was intended for. Real estate transactions, financial arrangements or other commitments are among the possibilities being examined to determine the exact nature of the business relationship between the two men.
Jamal’s wife says she tried unsuccessfully to recover the money. She also says that people witnessed the handover. Investigators may now question those witnesses and compare their statements with the available financial documents. No specific amount has been made public in the case.
Abducted by eight men posing as police officers, Jamal was never found
The case brings back a disappearance that deeply affected the Moroccan community in the Netherlands. On August 22, 2020, Jamal, then 31, was on holiday in Marbella with his wife and their five children. As he was returning from dinner with his wife, two vehicles fitted with flashing lights blocked his car. Several armed men disguised as police officers forcibly pulled him from his vehicle and took him to an unknown destination.
Since that night, his family has received no proof of life and no ransom demand. In January 2023, his relatives had offered a reward of 100,000 euros to anyone able to provide information that could help find the businessman.
The Spanish investigation had made progress in February 2023, with the arrest of two French nationals suspected of taking part in the kidnapping. But two months later, a serious judicial failure compromised the investigation. According to El País, the failure to extend the investigation within the required time limit led to the annulment of subsequent investigative measures concerning five suspects.
