Billions in drug money flowing through Netherlands: Tilburg mayor

The Netherlands is a paradise for criminals wit billions of euros in drug money flowing through the country every year, according to Tilburg Mayor Peter Noordanus. He led a large scale investigation into subversive crime in the country. "If we do nothing, soon nowhere will be safe", he said in an interview with RTL Nieuws.

"With the production fo drugs 4 to 8 billion euros are earned. And that's a conservative estimate. In Tilburg alone there are 2,400 people who earn their money with drugs", Noordanus said, adding that this is a very big problem. While the visible crimes like burglary, shootings and assassinations make daily headlines. These crimes are harder to spot. "You see it for example float to the top in sports clubs: a sugar daddy as sponsor, but doing so with dirty money. Some clubs are used to recruit a new generation of criminals. So subversive crime is everywhere."

According to Noordanus, the Netherlands has too long turned a blind eye to subversive crime. And that was easy to do because it is relatively invisible. "But it is high time that we do more about it. I want to set more money aside in the next cabinet period for this and have more people working on it, so we can tackle this problem."

Ways of addressing subversive crimes include banning motorcycle gangs and prosecuting their leaders more effectively, according to Noordanus. "you can also take away money. We are already doing that, but it can really be faster and more effective."