Five arrested in drug bust during FC Twente-PSV match

By Janene Pieters on April 7, 2017 - 08:43
Police doing a drug raid at the Grolsch Veste stadium in Enschede during a FC Twente-PSV match, 6 Apr 2017
Police doing a drug raid at the Grolsch Veste stadium in Enschede during a FC Twente-PSV match, 6 Apr 2017. Photo: @thomasddv / Twitter

The police arrested five people in a operation against drug trafficking in and around the Grolsch Veste stadium in Enschede during an Eredivisie match between FC Twente and PSV on Thursday night, NU.nl reports.

Three people were arrested in the supporters' home at Block P - the block for fanatical FC Twente supporters - and two were arrested outside the stadium. Drugs were found in the supporters' home, a spokesperson for the police said to NU.nl. The police also searched three homes and found several fake weapons. 

The police are investigating the relationship between the fanatical supporters and members of a motorcycle gang, who were identified in "full color" among the Block P supporters. 

The raid on the supporters' home made the people in Block P restless to the extent that the police decided to close down the box and evacuate it. There were several fights and the riot police had to be deployed to restore calm. A police officer was injured when she was pulled of her horse and assaulted.

According to the police, several drug deals were made in the supporters' home. There is no keeping track of who is in the supporters home, the police said. "There is a selective door policy, intimidation and violence. This undermines the authority of the parties responsible for security at the stadium", the district chief of Twente in the Oost-Nederland police said, according to NU.nl. 

Enschede mayor Onno van Veldhuizen is considering closing the supporters' home after this drug bust. 

A misunderstanding led to the entire stadium being evacuated during the drug raid. The stadium speaker called for all supporters to leave the stadium, but according to the police, that was only meant for supporters in Block P. The other supporters were eventually allowed to return to their seats. The match between FC Twente and PSV continued without disruption.

FC Twente had no idea that the police were planning to raid the stadium until shortly before it happened. "It came as a surprise", FC Twente general manager Jan van Halst said to Fox Sports. "We received a message that the police will do an evacuation, but it did not say why, how and what. The police can do that if there is need. We only saw a tweet that it involved drug trafficking. I think the police will inform us in detail on Friday."

The match in the Grolsch Veste stadium ended 2-2. PSV is therefore now four points behind Ajax in 2nd place, and seven points behind front runner Feyenoord. 

Police doing a drug raid at the Grolsch Veste stadium in Enschede during a FC Twente-PSV match, 6 Apr 2017

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