Police arrest man suspected of plotting killing of Dutch crime reporter Peter de Vries

Victim was shot at least five times in Amsterdam ambush

Tributes left at the scene where Dutch journalist Peter R de Vries was shot in Amsterdam in July 2021. AP

Police in the Netherlands have arrested a man on suspicion of organising the killing of Dutch crime reporter Peter R de Vries.

The Polish citizen, 27, was arrested on Monday.

"A suspect was arrested, a 27-year-old Polish man, for co-ordinating the men who carried out the killing," prosecutor Brechtje van de Moosdijk said.

Last July de Vries died in hospital, nine days after being shot at least five times in an ambush in Amsterdam.

The prominent investigative journalist and commentator was gunned down on July 7 as he left a TV studio after appearing on a chat show.

He had been advising the key prosecution witness in the trial of Ridouan Taghi, an alleged underworld crime boss who was deported from Dubai to the Netherlands for a court case.

Taghi's organised crime group has been described as a “well-oiled killing machine” by prosecutors and de Vries said on Twitter in 2019 that police information had suggested he was on Taghi's hit list.

Two men, a Dutchman, 22, and a Polish citizen, 36, are currently standing trial accused of murder.

The pair were arrested within hours of the shooting in the alleged getaway car in which police say the alleged murder weapon was found.

The shooting sparked widespread condemnation, with European Council President Charles Michel calling it an “attack against our values".

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte described the killing of de Vries as “shocking and incomprehensible". He said it was an attack on a “courageous journalist” and the freedom of the press.