Customs investigators in Antwerp seized a massive amount of cocaine hidden in a rice shipment at the port there. Over three thousand kilos of cocaine was found, with an estimated street value of 150 million euros.
The drug packages, valued at 150 million euros, were found during a routine search. The shipment was likely destined for the Den Haag region, according to Dutch police. No arrests were made in the case.
A young man from Belgium won big during his first ever visit to a casino. The young man, who asked to remain anonymous, won the Mega Millions Jackpot at the Holland Casino in Breda on Friday night. He walked away with 1,381,724.60 euros, BN De Stem reports.
"This shows how you can strike lucky even on a first visit", the casino manager said to the newspaper. "While enjoying a glass of champagne, the guest received a check of almost 1.4 million euros tax-free."
A fugitive Dutch man was arrested in Spain on Wednesday. 71-year-old Leonardus 'Lei' B. was sentenced to life in prison by a Belgian court earlier this month for the murder of his ex-wife ten years ago, RTL Nieuws reports.
In December 2009 B. shot and killed his ex-wife Josee Widdershoven in Vucht out of frustration about their divorce. He then fled. After managing to avoid the authorities for years, the Sittard-born man was finally arrested in Calpe, Spain on Wednesday.
The Dutch police arrested two men on Tuesday morning in connection with thee deaths in a Belgian drug lab. Three Dutch men were found dead in the drug lab in Hechtel-Eksel in January. Investigation showed that the two suspects, aged 22 and 35 from Eindhoven, may have been involved with the drug lab, the police said in a statement.
Four Dutch people were hospitalized after a boating accident on the Schelde in Antwerp on Friday. Two speedboats crashed into each other. A total of 20 Dutch people were injured, NOS reports.
The two speedboats, with captains, were hired by a Dutch company for its annual corporate outing. The speedboats collided shortly after departure. Multiple people ended up in the water. A diving team from the local fire brigade rescued two people from the water, the others were picked up by a water taxi, Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws reported.
A Dutch father and his two sons were arrested in Belgium and Spain over the past weeks for smuggling 3,300 kilograms of cocaine into the Netherlands through the port of Antwerp. The cocaine was seized in a warehouse in Hazeldonk in January 2017. All three suspects have been extradited to the Netherlands and are in custody, the police said in a statement.
Four hikers were caught by the rising tide off the coast of the Zeeland village o Renesse on Thursday. A 45-year-old woman from Vilvoorde, Belgium, drowned. Her two children aged 17 and 8, and a 23-year-old woman from Renesse were injured, NOS reports.
The Dutch woman and her three dogs, and the Belgian woman and her son and daughter were walking on Verklikkerstrand when they got stuck on a sandbank by the rising tide. According to the police, they did not know each other.
Three men who were found dead in a drug lab in Eksel in Belgium on Tuesday are all from the Netherlands. Two came from Eindhoven, the third from Valkenswaard, the Belgian Public Prosecutor confirmed to Omroep Brabant.
Belgian newspaper Belang van Limburg reports that the three men were in their early 20's. The Belgian authorities believe they died in their sleep after breathing toxic fumes.
Three people were found dead in a shed in the Belgian town of Eksel, about 15 kilometers across the border from Weert, early on Tuesday morning. The shed was set up as a drug lab. The Belgian emergency services responded to the shed on Kiefhoekstraat after the local brigade got a tip about a strange smell from someone calling from Eindhoven, AD reports.
How the victims died is not yet clear. The fire brigade is taking measurements and samples that will be analyzed by a judicial laboratory and specialized firms.
The Australian border police in Sydney discovered a number of champagne bottles that didn't contain champagne, but liquid ecstasy. Most of these bottles were shipped to Australia from Belgium, but a number also came from the Netherlands, France and Germany, the Australian Border Force [ABF] said in a statement.
A Landgraaf truck driver suspected of killing a "yellow vest" protester in a hit-and-run in Belgium on Friday, was released from custody. He is still a suspect, the Public Prosecutor in Liege said. The trucker is officially suspected of deliberately inflicting bodily harm without the intention of killing, NOS reports.
A truck driver from Landgraaf who is suspected of killing a 'yellow vests' protester during a highway blockade in Belgium on Friday, voluntarily turned himself in to the Belgian authorities on Tuesday, his lawyer confirmed. "He did not notice anything about a collision", lawyer Richard Wagemans said to RTL Nieuws.
A truck driver from Dongen who was arrested on suspicion of killing a 'yellow vest' protester in a hit-and-run in Belgium on Friday, was not involved in the accident. The truck that hit the 50-year-old man looked identical to the truck the Dutch man drives, but turned out not to be the same vehicle, RTL Nieuws reports.
A 'yellow vest' protester was killed in a hit-and-run during a highway blockade on the E25 highway near Visé, just across the border with the Netherlands, on Friday. The 50-year-old man was hit by a truck, which then fled the scene. A 56-year-old man from Dongen in Noord-Brabant was arrested on Saturday, the Public Prosecutor in Liege, Belgium confirmed, NOS reports.
A Yellow Vests protest in Belgium briefly blocked that country's traffic from crossing the border into the Dutch city of Maastricht on Wednesday night. The blockade on the E25 highway in Voeren, Belgium, was just a few hundred meters away from the border point.
Dutch authorities assisted their Belgian counterparts in controlling the protest.
About 20 Yellow Vest demonstrators were involved. They allegedly set a fire using pallets and rubber tires, according to L1.
Michel Z., a 48-year-old former equipment manager for Feyenoord, is suspected of murdering Raouf Ben Alita in Belgium last week. A Belgian court ordered his arrest, Belgian newspaper De Gazet van Antwerpen reports.
A total of 90 people arrested in a large international action against the Italian mafia clan 'Ndrangheta on Wednesday morning, was announced at a press conference at European judicial cooperation body Eurojust in The Hague. As part of 'Operation Pollino', the police and judiciary in Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium raided various locations.
Police and judiciary in the Netherlands, Italy, Germany and Belgium are raiding countless locations on Wednesday morning in a coordinated action against the Italian 'Ndrangheta, a mafia clan from Calabria that is active throughout Europe. Raids and arrests are currently taking place in the four countries, ANP reports
Dozens of raids are being done in the Netherlands, a spokesperson for the Public Prosecutor said to the news wire. He could give no further information.
The police arrested 12 people in the Netherlands for involvement in the production and export of drugs to Scandinavia. A 13th suspect was arrested in Peer, Belgium. The suspects are 12 men and a woman between the ages of 32 and 16 years. They were arrested on Monday, but the police only announced the arrests on Thursday.
The police searched buildings in Utrecht, Vleuten, Woerden, Maarssen, Houten, Almere, Waardenburg, Lopikerkapel and Aalsmeer.
Four Belgian men were sentenced to five years in prison for gang raping two Dutch women for hours in an Antwerp hotel in March of this year. One of the men took the Dutch women, aged 21 and 22 years, to his hotel room on Mechelseplein after a night in a nightclub, after which he and his friends raped them, RTL Nieuws reports.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte says he has no plans to take a position in either the European Union or European Commission, and put an end to his Netherlands political career. Now leading his third cabinet as PM, Rutte has held the top job for over eight years.
"I'm staying. I'm not going to Brussels," he told NPO Radio 1's 10P1.
He said it would be irrelevant for other European leaders to try and persuade him to resign as Prime Minister to sit in a position like European President or European Commission Chairman. Rutte wants to serve the entire duration of the current cabinet.
Advances in DNA identification techniques led to the identification of a body found in 2001 in Belgium. The body of Corrie van der Valk was buried in Philippeville, Belgium that same year. The 58-year-old woman was struck by a train near Namur, Belgium, and caused extensive damage as to make identification impossible at the time.
The Van der Valk family was notified of the discovery on Thursday. One of her relatives told the AD, "We are sad, but also relieved that there is now clarity after so many years."
The Netherlands is going to work for a better legal position for Dutch flight staff working for foreign airlines. The Dutch government teamed up with Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany and Luxembourg to tackle this problem together in Europe, NOS reports.
The Netherlands and Australia want to start negotiating with Russia "in the foreseeable future" about the country's accountability in the downing of flight MH17, Minister Stef Blok of Foreign Affairs said after meeting with his Australian colleague Marise Payne in New York, NOS reports.
