Concerns over growing number of cocaine laundries in Netherlands

The authorities are finding more cocaine laundries in the Netherlands, ranging from smaller facilities in a home to laboratories on an industrial scale. “There are more, and the trend is that they are occasionally larger,” public prosecutor Martin van Nes told EenVandaag. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) is concerned about this trend.

Previously, cocaine mainly entered the country in blocks hidden between imported bananas, for example, via the port of Rotterdam. Nowadays, the drug is increasingly hidden chemically - dissolved into a liquid and then “washed” into products like clothing, plastic, or the cardboard box the bananas come in. That makes it much harder for the authorities to spot.

Once in the Netherlands, the cocaine is then washed out of the products in a cocaine laundry using special chemicals and then processed into a usable form. These chemicals can be very dangerous. The massive explosion that killed three people in Rotterdam in January is believed to have originated in a cocaine laundry.

In 2022, the police discovered 17 cocaine laundries in the Netherlands. Last year, that increased to 23. They often find people from Colombia or other South American countries working in these labs. “Completely logical, because that’s where the cocaine comes from,” Van Nes told EenVandaag.

The Dutch authorities are keeping a very close eye on this development, especially because huge amounts of money are involved in these cocaine laundries. “That is also what we are concerned about,” Van Nes said. “It is precisely with these amounts that officials are bribed, which makes violence possible and also enables the criminal market to grow further.”

Because the authorities are “reasonably successful” in finding cocaine in the large ports, Van Nes expects the number of laundries to continue to rise. “And that is why we ask society: if you think something is not right, report it.”