Alejo Vidal-Quadras
Alejo Vidal-Quadras is one of the founders of the anti-immigration party Vox in Spain. He is a former vice president of the European Parliament and a member of the lobbying group European Friends of Israel, which defends Israeli interests in the EU.
Mr. Vidal-Quadras is associated with several Iranian resistance groups that oppose the current regime in the Islamic Republic of Iran. He received substantial quantities of money from those groups at the time Vox was founded. The payments are in the public record, and are not thought to have violated any laws.
Last November Mr. Vidal-Quadras was shot in the face outside his residence in Madrid, but survived the attack. He claimed that Iran was behind the assassination attempt.
Earlier this month the suspected shooter in the attack, a Tunisian-French man named Mehrez Ayari, was arrested in the Netherlands. See this English-language article in the Netherlands Times (hat tip Reader From Chicago) for more on the arrest of Mehrez Ayari.
Below are two articles about the case, both translated by Gary Fouse. The first is a Dutch-language report from RTL Nederland:
Link with drug criminals
Suspect in murder attempt on Spanish politician arrested in the Netherlands
Earlier this month, a suspect in the attempted murder of the Spanish nationalist politician Alejo Vidal-Quadras (78) was arrested in the Netherlands. According to Spanish media, it is the shooter, and the arrest points to the involvement of Dutch drug criminals. They possibly acted on behalf of Iran.
The news was announced today by the Spanish National Police. The suspect is a 38-year-old French national of Tunisian origin. This man reportedly carried out the murder attempt and was arrested on June 6 in Haarlem, where he was hiding.
The politician Vidal-Quadras, founder of the radical Vox party, was shot in broad daylight on November 9, 2023 as he left his residence in Madrid. The shooter, who was sitting as a passenger on a motorcycle, was lying in wait for him. The victim was hit in the lower jaw but survived the attack.
Messages intercepted
The suspect was earlier identified based on images from security cameras in Madrid, the Spanish newspaper El Pais writes. On the day of the attack, he kept his helmet on, but on the previous days during reconnaissance, he was less careful. Spanish investigators also intercepted messages that the suspect sent to his brother and other acquaintances in which he spoke of the attack.
Later in the month the victim accused Iran of giving the order for the hit. He provided no supporting evidence for this, but in the past, he has provided legal assistance as a lawyer to the Iranian political opposition. The Teheran regime allegedly targeted him for that.
Mocro-Maffia [Moroccan Mafia]
Based on police sources, El Pais reports that the arrested suspect has connections with the Dutch drug criminals from the so-called Mocro-Maffia. According to these sources, it is possible that the Dutch criminals acted on behalf of Iran.
The perpetrator was earlier sought out by others in the Catalan Independence Movement. This is because Vidal-Quadras’ party, Vox, is strongly opposed to the independence of Catalunya.
At the end of April, it was revealed that the attack was paid for and planned in the Netherlands. That came out of an investigation by Spanish police. On April 30, a woman with Dutch nationality was arrested. She reportedly paid for the murder attempt and was involved in the logistical preparation. The newspaper, El Pais, wrote then that the order and execution of the attack possibly came out of the Dutch drug world.
Six suspects have now been arrested, two of them in the Netherlands. The Spanish police are also still looking for an important player in the plot, a Moroccan with the nickname Pacho, who left Spain the day before the attack.
The second article, in Spanish, is from the online newspaper 20 Minutos:
Mehrez Ayari, alleged material perpetrator in the shooting of Vidal-Quadras, arrested in the Netherlands
The National Police have reported the arrest in the Netherlands of a man alleged to be the material perpetrator of the shooting of Vidal-Quadras. The fugitive who was sought was Mehrez Ayari, a French citizen, 37, of Tunisian origin, with multiple previous offenses in France.
According to the National Police, it was Dutch agents who arrested Ayari, the hitman, who was the subject of an international arrest order issued by the National Court, whose court number 5 is investigating the case.
The police are now investigating the relationship of this citizen with the Mocro-Maffia, a powerful Dutch-Moroccan criminal organization on the radar of numerous European countries for their extreme violence.
Alejo Vidal-Quadras was shot in the face last November 9 near his residence on Calle Núñez de Balboa in Madrid.
Sixth arrest for attack
It makes the sixth arrest carried out in the course of the investigation of the attack perpetrated against the founder of Vox and the former president of the Popular Party of Catalunya.
In April, the National Police also announced the arrest of a woman in Holland for her alleged participation in the financing and preparation of the attack against the politician.
Among the arrested is Greg Oliver Higuera Marcano, a Venezuelan located on the Colombian border, allegedly implicated in the purchase of the motorcycle used in the attack and whose extradition has been requested by the judge.
The first three arrests were carried out on November 21 in Spain; a couple in Lanjaron (Granada) and a young man in Fuengirola (Malaga). The man arrested in the Granada locality was remanded to custody, while the woman — of British origin — and the young man — also connected to the motorcycle — were released.