The incident occurred in early August and King Willem-Alexander had to apologize after the confusing event.
The Dutch royal family has had to apologise to a broadcaster and his friends after mistaking them for possible suspects of wanting to carry out an attack on Princess Amalia of the Netherlands.
The incident occurred on August 2, although the information only came to light in the last few hours. The presenter Serginio Piqué, from the Dutch radio station NPO Blend, was driving a rented car with a group of friends through the centre of Antwerp. During the trip, armed men wearing balaclavas stopped them and forced them out of the vehicle at gunpoint.
The men were forced to kneel down and with their hands on their heads before being arrested by the Royal Intelligence Service. The curious thing about the incident is that these friends did not know that they were making the same journey as Princess Amalia from Amsterdam to Antwerp. This alerted the authorities.
It is worth remembering that in recent years, the future heiress to the throne of the Netherlands suffered several threats of kidnapping by the Dutch mafia. This forced the young woman to take refuge in Spain. For this reason, security and care for the princess was intensified,
The presenter and his friends were questioned by the police for more than an hour and it was later concluded that it was all a misunderstanding. Serginio’s lawyer, Vito Shukrula, assured the Daily Mail tabloid that the group of friends received an apology from a spokesman for the Dutch royal family.
The lawyer revealed that the palace described the incident as an “unfortunate consequence of the need to protect the royal house.” According to sources, Serginio did not know the reason for his arrest until he arrived at the police station.
“A lot of things go through your mind. You start to wonder if there was racial discrimination. It’s a feeling that every black person experiences when they are stopped unfairly. They could have put up a stop sign for us. Then they could have searched our car and the situation would have been over in two minutes,” the presenter told Dutch media outlet NOS after his arrest about what went through his head at the time.
“Yesterday we received a call from the Royal Family’s personal spokesperson. She told us that King Willem-Alexander wants us to know that the Dutch Royal Family deeply understands how terrifying this experience must have been for my client and his friends. Furthermore, the King wanted us to know that he expresses his solidarity on behalf of the Royal Family and that he recognises that my client and his friends have become victims,” the lawyer told the Daily Mail.
“My client has accepted the royal family’s personal apology and we will not be taking any further legal action, as we have achieved what we wanted, which is recognition for the terrible and unjust detention of my client and his friends,” the lawyer said of the incident.
