customs

More investigators and customs officers are needed to combat drug crime in the port of Rotterdam, according to Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb. The Rotterdam mayor calls on the government to structurally tackle undermining crime, NOS reports.

Three customs officer working in the port of Rotterdam were arrested on Monday on suspicion of money laundering. 

The three men, aged 31, 34 and 37 from Rotterdam, Schiedam and The Hague, were arrested after three homes and a business premises were searched in January, NOS reports.

They fell under suspicion because they made striking cash withdrawals and deposits on their bank accounts. According to the Public Prosecutor, these amounts were not in proportion with their legal income as customs officers.

A massive 1,500 kilograms of cocaine was found hidden among mangoes in a container at the port of Rotterdam on Wednesday. A 37-year-old customs officer from Rotterdam was arrested on suspicion of involvement in this drug transport, the Public Prosecutor announced.

The container came from Brazil, according to the Prosecutor.

The municipality of Rotterdam placed the 43 sisha lounges in the city under stricter supervision, following complaints from residents and an explosion at a sisha lounge in Rotterdam West in December. Earlier this week the police announced that the explosion at Villa Blanca was an attack, NOS reports.

If the United Kingdom leaves the European Union with no agreement in place, it will cost the Netherlands around 2.3 billion euros up to 2023, the Court of Audit said in a new report published on Monday. This involves extra money for Customs and the Dutch food and consumer product safety authority NVWA, as well as higher contributions to the EU, ANP reports.

Customs divers found 239 kilograms of marijuana hidden under a sea going vessel docked at a terminal on Maasvlakte in Rotterdam on Sunday, the Public Prosecutor said.

The customs officer decided to dive underneath the ship after the seaport police received a report that something suspicious was detected during the maintenance of the ship. The diving team removed several large sports bags from under the ship. "The state of the bags showed that they have been in the water for a long time", the Persecutor said.

The Rotterdam investigative authorities are going to use cameras for extra surveillance at the port of Rotterdam. They hope that this will help in the fight against cocaine- and human trafficking. "In this way the net around the cocaine traffickers will be pulled tighter again", Bert Wiersema, director of enforcement policy at customs, said NU.nl reports.

The first new cameras were installed on the Maasvlakte following a successful test on Sluisjesdijk. Almost 200 more will be added in the coming years. 

Five people were arrested in Almere on Tuesday morning a major police action against drug trafficking. Four of the five detainees are members of outlaw motorcycle gang No Surrender, a police spokesperson confirmed to NU.nl.

The arrested No Surrender members are aged 23, 29, 30 and 42 years and all from Almere. The fifth suspect is a 46-year-old man from Hilversum and is not a member of the motorcycle gang. 

In a massive action against the illegal trade in animals and plants, the Dutch government seized a huge amount of illegal products over the past months. Among the items seized were 14 thousand dead seahorses, three elephant legs, a polar bear skin, and 77 kilos of scales from the very endangered African ant eater, the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality announced.

The Dutch police still do too little to fight corruption within their own ranks, according to an investigation by the Ministry of Security and Justice's Scientific Research and Documentation Center, NOS reports.

Police officer screening is still not properly done, according to the researchers. "Ever fewer employees are subject to the heavier forms of screening", the report reads. The screening investigations are also less detailed than in the past and too few interim screenings are done. 

Customs officers intercepted 60 red flamingos at Schiphol airport. One was dead and three were in a bad state, ANP reports.

The flamingos were being transported from Cuba to China.

All of the birds were seized and taken to an animal hospital for care, a spokesperson for the Dutch food and consumer product authority NVWA said on Friday. The animals were injured in the poor transport conditions.

The inside of the cases weren't sealed properly, resulting in some of the flamingos getting their feet stuck in vent holes.