Anonymous crime reports skyrocket in Netherlands

The number of anonymous tips about crimes increased significantly over the past years. Last year Meld Misdaad Anoniem - the anonymous tip line in the Netherlands - received a total of 16,918 reports, around double the number received in 2010, Titus Visser, director of Meld Misdaad Anoniem, said to the Telegraaf.

The number of tips about hard drugs increased by more than 20 percent, compared to 2016. A total of 4,019 drug related tips were received. Tips about drugs ranged from storage of raw materials to the production of synthetic drugs, and from large-scale drug trafficking to street dealers. "Thanks to the tips, large batches of cocaine were intercepted last year, drug labs were dismantles and street dealing was dealt with", Visser said to the newspaper.

"The number of reports about financial-economic crimes and football violence also increased again", Visser said. The number of reports on money laundering increased by 24 percent to 182 tips, and on criminal assets by 17 percent to 240 tips. Thanks to this information, at least 1.7 million euros in criminal profits were found, and 1.8 million euros in fraud was identified.

"These figures again prove that citizens are the eyes and ears of the police", Visser said to the newspaper. "In the past year at least 1,271 suspects were arrested and 845 crimes were solved or prevented. That number will still increase considerably, because more than half of the reports are still under investigation or the results are not yet known to us."