Dutch royal family apologizes after mistaken arrest in Antwerp

The Dutch royal family apologized on Friday for the unlawful arrest of NPO Blend radio host Serginio Piqué on August 2.

The DJ and his friends unknowingly drove the same route as Crown Princess Catharina-Amalia, daughter of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima, as they travelled from Amsterdam to Antwerp in a rental car.

When they reached Frankrijklei in Antwerp city centre, they were stopped by armed SWAT officers, held at gunpoint and later detained at a police station for an hour for questioning.

Serginio's lawyer Vito Shukrula announced that a spokesman for the Dutch royal family contacted King Willem-Alexander personally on Friday to apologize on behalf of King Willem-Alexander.

“We have been told that the King wished to express his understanding of how horrific this experience must have been for my client and his friends,” he said, reflecting the royals' acknowledgement of the distress caused by the incident.

The security mix-up was due to increased precautions towards Crown Princess Amalia, who had previously been the victim of a kidnapping plot by the so-called Dutch mafia and had subsequently had to hide in Madrid for over a year.

Serginio has accepted the royal family's apology and will not take legal action. He shared his thoughts on the ordeal with Dutch publication NOS: “So many things go through your head.

You start to wonder if there was ethnic profiling involved – that's the feeling every person of color experiences when they are wrongfully stopped.”

However, he stated that he did not believe that his appearance was the reason for the arrest.