Security breach? Dutch secret service agent protecting MP Geert Wilders suspended over ‘leaks’
A Dutch secret service agent who was part of the team responsible for protecting Geert Wilders, the front runner in next month’s election, has been suspended on suspicion of leaking details to a criminal organisation, the secret service said on Wednesday.
My heavens ... If I cannot blindly trust the service that’s supposed to protect me, then I cannot function
Wilders, who campaigns on an anti-Islam platform that includes closing mosques and banning immigration from Muslim countries that has led to the protection, condemned the alleged breach, saying he cannot function without adequate security.
Dutch newspapers De Telegraaf and NRC Handelsblad and the country’s national broadcaster NOS identified the suspect as an experienced officer in his mid-30s, using his first name and last initial.
Secret Service chief Erik Akerboom said he could not confirm the man’s identity but confirmed media reports he has a “Moroccan background”.
Akerboom told Business News Radio that “as far as we know” Wilders’ safety had not been jeopardised. Wilders has frequently railed against rogue elements within the Netherlands’ Moroccan community and pledged to crack down on “Moroccan scum” who he said were making the streets unsafe as he launched his campaign on Saturday for the March 15 vote.
The agent who was suspended was one of a team tasked with prescreening locations where Wilders is scheduled to make public appearances. He was not a member of Wilders’ physical protection team, Akerboom said.