DR ‹ › A Rotterdam court on Wednesday acquitted Abderrahim El M., a former employee of the Netherlands' National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security (NCTV), of leaking information to Moroccan intelligence services. However, he was sentenced to 20 months in prison for unlawfully possessing classified state documents. Dutch prosecutors had sought a 12-year prison sentence for the 66-year-old, who is of Moroccan origin, on suspicion of espionage. The court found the evidence insufficient to prove that he had shared information with Moroccan intelligence. Judges acknowledged that the defendant had contact with members of Moroccan intelligence, which raised suspicions, but investigators could not establish that he had passed documents to Morocco's General Directorate for Studies and Documentation (DGED) or intended to do so. The suspect was arrested in 2023 at Schiphol Airport while preparing to travel to Casablanca. A search of his luggage revealed a data storage device containing 284 classified documents produced between 2007 and 2023. Authorities later discovered hundreds of additional documents at his home, including more than 800 classified as state secrets. These files originated from the NCTV office and were not permitted to be taken outside the premises. The court said that printing and storing such documents outside the workplace posed serious risks to national security, adding that the defendant, given his position, should have been fully aware of the consequences.
