Jaren na de moord op Kemal Zengin doet één foto in een gekraakte Taghi-telefoon de zaak kantelen

Overview

In the Netherlands, investigators have reopened a long-unsolved murder case from Venlo (2017) by using newly readable encrypted messages found in a separate, major criminal-phone investigation connected to Ridwan Tagi.

The original murder (Aug 2017, Venlo/Blerik)

• Kemal Zengin was shot dead outside his home after returning from bars/cards.
• He was attacked by men with an automatic weapon from another car.
• His son noticed the getaway car leaving. Later, police found:
  • the car (a stolen Caddy) burned out about 140 km away in Amersfoort
  • and recovered the firearm.

Despite seemingly strong evidence, the case was suspended due to limited investigative capacity during a wave of Limburg murders in 2017.

Years of stagnation, then a breakthrough through encryption cracking (late 2024)

• In 2018–2019, the investigation regained momentum intermittently, including:
  • arrests
  • police efforts supported by the family (including private detective work and GPS extraction)
• The decisive shift came in late 2024:
  • an NFI (Netherlands Forensic Institute) employee decrypted and analyzed messages on a phone seized in the Ridwan Tagi network investigation (connected to the “Eris” mega-trial context).
• The messages used coded language, including references to:
  • “irons”
  • “bicycles”
  • “porridge”

Key contents found on the decrypted phone

Crucially, the phone contained:

• A screenshot/photo of Kemal Zengin taken from a Dutch newspaper (De Limburger), suggesting he was known within the network years after his death.
• Messages sent on the exact day Kemal was killed, appearing to relate to:
  • money/payment (e.g., “go prepare your porridge”)
  • along with coded references to weapons and cars.

What the decrypted messages imply

Justice interpreted the codes as:

• “irons” = weapons
• “bicycles” = getaway cars
• “porridge” = payment/money preparation

From this, the murder is reframed as likely not merely a local Venlo conflict, but connected to the national-scale contract-killing machinery associated with Tagi’s network.

The message structure suggests a command-and-execution workflow—orders from higher-level figures to contractors—rather than a random dispute.

Remaining ambiguity

A key question persists: it’s unclear whether Kemal was deeply involved in the assassination world, or whether he was a peripheral figure/victim.

His family argues he was not “that deep,” though they acknowledge they did not know everything about his contacts.

How the wider trials affect Kemal’s case

• The phone was tied to a suspect in the Eris case (described by justice as more than a motorcycle club), with references to:
  • perpetrators and roles such as brokers, spotters, drivers, and shooters.
• Two important names repeatedly linked to the outcome of Kemal’s murder case:
  • Veno (sentenced to life imprisonment)
  • Gwensley/Quensley G. (sentenced to up to 20 years)

Family reaction

The family’s response is mixed but pragmatic:

• They are comparatively satisfied that one person already received life, because it may limit additional prosecution complexity.
• They still hope the case will fully connect Kemal’s death to the network.

Current status and family perspective

• Even as mega-cases like Eris and Marengo continue in court, Kemal’s file remains “waiting,” causing frustration for the surviving relatives.
• The episode underscores the family’s long struggle and fatigue:
  • multiple funerals
  • ongoing grief
  • repeated delays

At Schiphol, after watching the Eris verdict process, the family experienced disappointment that Kemal was not specifically addressed in the verdict. The decrypted-phone evidence, however, creates new grounds to keep pushing.

Main takeaway

A previously local, years-old murder (Kemal Zengin, 2017) now appears—through decrypted encrypted communications from the Tagi network—to be part of a broader organized contract-killing system. Payment/operation codes and an internal image link suggest Kemal was referenced in messages on the day of his death, shifting the case interpretation from “unknown local motive” toward “network-linked liquidation,” while Kemal’s exact status (participant vs. victim) remains unresolved.

Presenters / contributors

• Bas van Mulken (host/narrator)
• Bas Dingemans (crime reporter)