drug trafficking

Criminals abuse PostNL's parcel delivery system. The network of subcontracted package delivers are misused by criminals for things like drug transports and money laundering, Financieele Dagblad reports.

In 2014 PostNL CEO Herna Verhagen was warned about the vulnerability of courier- and parcel delivery companies, according to the newspaper. These businesses are vulnerable to threats, intimidation, money laundering, drug trafficking and and bribery, FD writes. 

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.

Every year around 16 billion euros is laundered in the Netherlands, 90 percent of which come from drug trafficking and fraud, researchers at Utrecht University found in a study commissioned by the the scientific research and documentation center WODC. Fraud is increasing and the under- and upper world are becoming increasingly intertwined, the researchers warned in Trouw.

The police arrested two Amsterdam residents, aged 62 and 69 years, on suspicion of international drug trafficking on Tuesday morning. The two are suspected of a large number of drug transports to Denmark, Sweden and the United Kingdom, NU.nl reports. 

Police officers also searched three homes, including one in Belgium. 

A massive shipment fish that the Rotterdam police seized in a drug bust last month, is being donated to zoos and aquariums in the Netherlands, the Public Prosecutor announced. It involves thousands of kilograms of hake and cod that were used to hide 1,125 kilograms of cocaine from Ecuador.

Two Dutch men were caught trying to smuggle 15 kilograms of raw materials for crystal meth to the Spanish island of Ibiza. They were arrested. The Spanish police released a video of the drug bust.

Customs officers and container company employees at the port of Rotterdam are paid by criminals to help them traffic drugs into the Netherlands, NOS and RTV Rijnmond report based on conversations the police tapped and the broadcasters were allowed to hear. 

The port workers sometimes receive millions of euros to cooperate with the criminals, according to the broadcasters. At least three customs officers were bribed in this way. 

Last week the police arrested over 100 people in a nationwide campaign against so-called 'mobile banditry' - gangs of criminals that travel from place to place to commit crimes. The detainees include shoplifters, baby formula thieves, pickpockets, drug traffickers, identity thieves and even a fake cop, the police said in a statement on Monday night.

The nationwide action was held between Tuesday and Friday last week. Multiple people were arrested at Amsterdam Central Station for pickpocketing, or attempts thereto. 

Two men were sentenced to three and six years in prison for abducting a man from Rotterdam in Amstelveen in March last year. The kidnappers held the man hostage for hours, cut off part of his finger and then dumped him on the street, NOS reports.

A Dutch-Polish drug gang was busted in a combined effort by the Dutch, Polish and German police. The Dutch police raided multiple places in the south of the Netherlands on April 16th and 17th and arrested seven suspects. Another seven suspects were arrested in Poland. They are all suspected of being part of a criminal organization involved in drug trafficking and dealing in chemicals intended for the production of synthetic drugs, the police said on Friday.

Albanian criminals are increasingly playing leading roles in organized crime in Amsterdam, according to a so-called trend analysis by the Amsterdam police. They are mainly engaged in cocaine trafficking, but also in human trafficking and property fraud, NU.nl reports.

According to the police, these Albanian criminals lead the cocaine import from South America, the transhipment via the port of Rotterdam, and the further distribution to other European countries from Amsterdam. In addition to the Netherlands, Albanians are also very active in the drug trade in Great Britain.