Wanted Dutch drug traffickers arrested in Lebanon

Two Dutch people have been arrested in Lebanon on suspicion of drug trafficking. The men, aged 60 and 41, were wanted internationally and arrested at the request of the Dutch Public Prosecution Service (OM). One of them is the well-known Dutch criminal Mink K., who had been living in Lebanon for a long time, according to De Telegraaf.

The men were arrested last Thursday, the OM reported on Saturday. Both are believed to be involved in large-scale international drug trafficking. Based on intercepted PGP messages from cracked crypto communications, the OM believes the men are involved in cocaine transports of hundreds of kilograms from South America to the Netherlands. They are associated with consignments of drugs intercepted in the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam.

The men were arrested in close cooperation with the National Criminal Investigation Department and the Lebanese authorities, the OM reported. Lebanon has been asked to extradite both suspects. It is not yet known when that will happen.

Mink K., 60, has been called as a witness in the appeal against Willem Holleeder, but has so far not shown himself. K. has previously stated that Holleeder was not the man who pulled the strings in the underworld. At the same time, he called him "dominant, manipulative and a sociopath." Holleeder has been sentenced to life imprisonment for involvement in six murders. The appeal in his case is nearing the end and the verdict is scheduled for the end of June.