VVD calls for action to combat drug trafficking through postal mail

Drugs are not only being disseminated via ports but also increasingly through postal mail. This is why the coalition party, VVD, urged the Cabinet to implement countermeasures this week. A motion calling for such actions has gained significant support in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, according to the right-wing party.

Ingrid Michon of the VVD asked Justice Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius and Economic Affairs Minister Micky Adriaansens, both from her party, to come up with a plan within six months to address this issue. The plan should encompass improved detection and reporting of "unusual shipments." The MP also called for postal companies to annually disclose the quantity of drugs seized and for employees to be better equipped to handle such situations.

Michon suggested that the plan can be implemented if the Cabinet amends the Postal Act, which initiated the deregulation of the Dutch postal sector in 2009 and allowed postal companies to enter the market.

Dutch Customs officers found drugs in nearly 27,000 pieces of outgoing mail last year, significantly more than the 15,500 mailed drugs intercepted in 2021. The majority of the seizures consisted of ecstasy or MDMA (the raw material for ecstasy) smuggled from the Netherlands to countries like the United States and Australia, Customs announced earlier this year. Postal companies are thereby "involuntarily facilitating organized drug crime," Michon said.

Customs officials attributed the rise in intercepted drug mail partly to their enhanced monitoring efforts. Moreover, smugglers are increasingly using letter mail over package mail as it allowed them to remain anonymous.

This plan is in line with the VVD's stance on crime and drug criminality. In November 2022, Yeşilgöz-Zegerius announced that additional money would be allocated to curb drug smuggling via the Rotterdam port.