Dutch double agent called “modern-day Mata Hari” in prison

Malika Karoum

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Malika Karoum, the 33-year old intelligence operative who has been described as the “modern-day Mata Hari” is in prison in Egypt, a Dutch news magazine has revealed. Karoum, a Dutch citizen of Moroccan descent, joined Holland’s General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) in 2004, and worked as an undercover agent investigating Islamist groups operating on Dutch soil. In 2006, AIVD sent Karoum to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to aid an international investigation into money laundering with possible Islamist links. But Dutch intelligence sources say that Karoum, whose apparent cover was working as a real-estate agent, began “subcontracting” herself to Egyptian and United Arab Emirates intelligence services, and eventually utilized her real-estate cover to enter the murky business world of property development in Dubai. Her Dutch accusers say she funneled “drug and arms money” from several shadowy figures to Dubai’s property bubble, which burst in 2008. Revu, the weekly Dutch magazine that revealed Karoum’s arrest, said the 33-year-old renegade spy was captured last January by Dutch intelligence agents, who traveled covertly to Dubai and virtually abducted her and took her to Egypt, “after negotiations with her lawyers, to bring her back to Amsterdam, broke down”. A closed-door court in Cairo jailed Karoum for 28 months after finding her guilty of arms trading and money laundering activities.