Breda kidnapping possibly linked to crooked cannabis deal

The police are "seriously considering" the scenario that the kidnapping of 18 year old Gino Heeren and 42 Rien de Koning in Breda last week was in retaliation of a "rip deal" - a criminal transaction in which one party robs the other - involving cannabis, police chief Hans Vissr of the Zeeland-West-Brabant union said during the presentation of their annual figures, AD reports. The two men were kidnapped from the Rene de Koning Auto's car dealership in Breda on December 29th. The car dealership belongs to Rene de Koning, Rien's uncle and Gino's grandfather. They spent three days in horrible conditions before they managed to escape on New Year's morning. Earlier it was announced that the kidnappers demanded 90 thousand euros in ransom money for the two. That amount would cover about 30 kilograms of cannabis, according to the newspaper. During the presentation Visser used this case as a prime example of how "subversive crime", such as cannabis cultivation and the production of synthetic drugs, significantly manifested itself in the region over the past year.