Customs officials found shipments of cocaine in two unusual places over the past few days. Some 300 kilograms of cocaine was found in a haul of frozen concentrated orange juice, while another 70 kilograms was found within a shipment of ferronickel.
A routine check of a sea container at the Rotterdam port led officials on Wednesday to the larger of the two drug hauls. The container from Brazil was loaded with barrels of frozen orange juice, destined for a business in Rotterdam.
Customs authorities intercepted over 2 thousand kilograms of cocaine at the port of Rotterdam in multiple discoveries on Friday and Monday, the Public Prosecutor announced. The drugs were found hidden in shipments of fruit or fruit products from Brazil and Costa Rica.
On Friday, 1,170 kilograms of cocaine were found hidden in a container loaded with mangoes from Brazil. The shipment was destined for a company in Zwaag.
Customs officials monitoring the Rotterdam Port found five different batches of cocaine from Friday to Tuesday, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) said in separate statements. Over 250 kilograms of cocaine was recovered, and eight different people suspected of involvement were arrested.
More than 80 kilograms of cocaine was found on a Martinair Cargo plane in Argentina. Seven men, three of whom are Dutch, were arrested, including the plane's pilot and some crew members, RTL Nieuws reports.
The plane was at the Ezeiza International Airport near Buenos Aires when the drugs were discovered. Local media report that the discovery was made shortly before he plane was set to depart for Amsterdam, via Ecuador and Miami.
A convicted Dutch sex offender was arrested in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia on suspicion of rape. Johan S., nicknamed the 'Valium rapist' in the Netherlands, served a 5 year long prison sentence in the Netherlands for a series of rapes, RTL Nieuws reports.
Customs officials in and around Rotterdam found a total of 775 kilograms of cocaine in three separate investigations. The busts all took place between Friday and Sunday, with authorities taking seven people into custody.
Customs officers intercepted a large amount of cocaine during a check at the port of Rotterdam on Monday. The drugs were hidden in around 40 barrels of frozen fruit pulp, the Public Prosecutor said on Wednesday.
The container with the drugs came from Brazil. The cocaine was removed and destroyed.
The HARC team, a joint venture of Customs, FIOD, Seaport Police, and the Public Prosecution Service in Rotterdam, is investigating.
Employees of a fruit company in Ridderkerk found a large batch of cocaine hidden among melons in a shipment the company received from Brazil on Monday, the Public Prosecutor said.
A total of 330 kilograms of cocaine were hidden in the container, according to RTL Nieuws. The container came from Brazil and was delivered to the port of Rotterdam before being moved to the company in Ridderkerk.
The fruit company employees called the police the moment they found the drugs. The Public Prosecutor does not believe the company was involved in the drug trafficking.
Investigators working near the Rotterdam port found nearly 100 kilograms of cocaine at a fruit company in the IJsselmonde district of the city on Monday. The drugs were hidden in a shipment of melons from Brazil, the police said in a statement.
“Employees of the fruit company found the drugs among the fruit and reported it,” police said. “The company probably has nothing to do with drug trafficking.” The cocaine was seized and destroyed.
With reporting by Janene Pieters.
Prosecutors upgraded charges against a man arrested in Diemen over the death of a pregnant Brazilian woman and her unborn son. Dennis van E., 48, is facing accusations of aggravated abortion and manslaughter, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) confirmed on Friday. He was ordered held in jail for an additional 70 days in a hearing on Monday while attorneys continue to prepare for the case to come to trial, the Amsterdam district court system told NL Times.
The Rotterdam police are looking for the person who misplaced a backpack on Witte de Withstraat on Friday night. The backpack contained multiple phones and a "a large amount of cocaine". The police invite the owner to come pick up his bag. "Come and visit the Doelwater police station", the Rotterdam police said on Twitter.
A 75-year-old Dutch man was arrested in Brazil in March for sexually abusing a 2-year-old child. The suspect is a known pedophile who was convicted in Brazil 15 years ago for child sex abuse and sentenced to four years in prion, RTL Nieuws reports.
The suspect lives in the Brazilian city of Fortaleza. He contacted the Dutch embassy for assistance.
A minister of Brazil seems to have a rather strange view of the Netherlands. Six years ago Minister Damares Alves of Women, Family and Human Rights said that in the Netherlands it is recommended to masturbate boys from the age of seven months. RTL Nieuws correspondent Sandra Korstjens discovered these striking statements in the recordings of a speech from 2013, when Alves worked as an evangelical pastor.
Hundreds of women accused Brazilian spiritual healer and medium João Teixeira de Faria of sexual abuse and rape. Prosecutors in Brazil have now received over 200 hundred declarations against the 76-year-old man. Dutch choreographer Zahira Lieneke Mous was the first to come out and speak against the man, AD reports.
Dutch brewer Heineken reached an agreement to acquire the currently loss-making Brazilian breweries of Japanese brewer Kirin Holdings, Heineken announced in a press release on Monday. Heineken, the second largest brewer in the world, will pay 1.025 billion euros in cash and debt acquisition for 12 beer brewing locations, production facilities and the distribution network Kirin Brasil has in place.
Dutch beer giant Heineken confirmed rumors that it is working on acquiring Brazilian brewery Kirin Brasil in a short press release on Friday. Should Heineken take over the Brazilian brewery, the Dutch brewer's market share in the country would double, BNR reports.
"In response to speculation in the media over Kirin, Heineken can confirm that it is in talks with Kirin about the Brazilian branch. These discussions are ongoing and it can not be said that there will actually be an agreement", the Dutch beer giant said in a press statement.
A Dutch man is one of four suspects against whom a Brazilian judge issued an international arrest warrant on Monday. The four work at a company suspected of committing fraud in the sale of tickets for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro
Two people were killed and three were injured in an accident in a Heineken factory on Brazil. According to the brewer, one of the boilers in the factory in Jacarei exploded
Shareholders at Dutch-British oil and gas firm Royal Dutch Shell approved the 47 billion dollar (43 billion euro) of the United Kingdom gas company BG Group. Roughly 83 percent of shareholders gave their blessing to the deal during a meeting in Den Haag, Shell said in a statement on Wednesday.
Ten Dutch people are infected with the Zika Virus, the virus that took over South and Central America in mid-December. The virus is generally not dangerous to adults, but can be very dangerous for unborn children
Dutch engineering firm Arcadis is involved in an investigation by the Brazilian authorities into corruption at a large water management project in norther Brazil, the company confirmed on Monday. According to the press release, Arcadis is "providing information" and "fully cooperating" with the Brazilian authorities in the investigation.
The Brazilian police discovered 279.6 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a barn in Guaruja, Sao Paulo on Tuesday. They believe the drugs were meant for Amsterdam.
The 48 year old man from Heemskerk who was caught with a sailboat full of cocaine in Brazilian waters early this month, has a long history of smuggling. Raymond K., also known as Captain Coke, has been arrested at least 10 times before
A Dutchman was arrested in Brazil early this month for smuggling more than 600 kilograms of cocaine into the country. He could face a prison sentence of between five and 20 years. Local authorities are calling the largest drug bust in the history of the region
