Vacationers fined for taking drugs to Dutch islands

In an effort to prevent disruption on Dutch islands during the summer vacations, the police in Harlingen decided to check all vacationers traveling to Terschelling and Vlieland for drugs or alcohol on Friday and Saturday. All in all 53 mostly young people were detained and fined, AD reports. The police used drug sniffing dogs to check travelers at boat terminals. On Friday about 20 young people were detained and fined. Small quantities of soft drugs were found on 7 of them. One underage boy was carrying a soda can filled with 40 ecstasy pills, hashish and marijuana. The other cases mostly involved alcohol. On Saturday 33 young people were searched. Eight of them were found to be carrying large quantities of hard and soft drugs. All detained suspects had to pay their fines immediately before being sent on their vacation. In the cases involving minors, their parents were called and told about their child's actions.