Dutch police SMS drug dealers' clients

Eighty residents of Montfoort and Oudewater received an SMS from the police on Thursday evening. "MESSAGE FROM POLICE: Your telephone number was found on a drug dealer's phone", the message read, according to NOS.

The numbers came from the phones of two Utrecht drug dealers arrested a few months ago. The police decided to confront the users directly, as many don't want to be associated with the world of drug trafficking and may not realize the part they play therein. "We hope that the potential users will no longer buy from these dealers. Hopefully we also influence other dealers in this way", a police spokesperson said to the broadcaster

Oudewater mayor Pieter Verhoeve told NOS that he approves of this approach, because it addresses the drug user on his role in drug trafficking. Without a demand, there is no offer, he said.