Amsterdam police arrested a man at the end of 2022 in connection with apparent threats made against crown princess Amalia but he has not been charged with the crime and claim could be based on a mistake, the Parool reported on Saturday.  

The police linked Mohamad E (40) to an encrypted internet account that sent a message on February 26, 2021, about Amalia. “The woman who gives violin lessons to Amalia is giving info to my people bro,” one message said. Eight seconds later, a second message said “yes, I am going to take that gamble bro.”

Police were able to read the message following the hack of the Sky ECC servers earlier in the month. 

Police noted that “the suspicion is that the user of the account would obtain information from the violin teacher of presumably princess Amalia, ostensibly with the aim of committing a serious violent crime, as a few seconds later he says he is going to ‘take that gamble’.”

This, the police note says, “implies that there is a risk to what he whatever he wanted to do”.  

Other messages from the account, says the Parool, asked for information about three crime reporters, including Peter R de Vries who was shot dead that summer.

Just days after detectives received the messages, the Telegraaf reported that Amalia’s personal security had been ramped up because of organised crime threats against her. 

Mohamad E was followed and his phone was tapped as part of the investigation. He was arrested on November 15 last year and taken into custody.

However, the focus of the investigation into E was on trading guns, explosives and drugs, not threatening Amalia, and his criminal file states there was no evidence against him for the threats, according to the Parool.

This may be down to information from a police officer who was part of the royal family’s protection detail, and who reported that Amalia had not had violin lessons for the past eight years and that her violin teacher was dead, the paper said.

Mohamad E has a string of convictions to his name since 2009 but denies being the owner of the Sky ECC account attributed to Mo E. And he said, he is being “eaten away” by the thought that Amalia is living under high security because of an investigation into himself.  

No context

E’s lawyer Yehudi Moszkowicz told the paper that the messages about an Amalia are entirely without context. “They cannot be about the crown princess,” he said. “If there are no other suspicions that she is under threat from elsewhere, then she may very well be living under heavy protection for no reason.”

Amalia started a degree course at the University of Amsterdam last September and had hoped to share a flat with several friends in the city centre. She has described the situation she is living in as “very difficult”.

The public prosecution department has declined to comment on specifics of the case. However, a spokesman told the Parool that the department was “surprised that the suspect is calling attention to suspicions which are not the reason for him being in custody and for which he is not being charged.”