On Tuesday the police busted a drug network in Brunssum, Limburg. Four men were arrested for trading drugs on the dark web, and sending drugs all across the world through the regular postal service, the Public Prosecutor announced on Friday.
This investigation was launched after PostNL found drugs in packages during a drug check. According to the Prosecutor, the suspects had clients all over the world and sent drugs, mostly ecstasy, to their clients in normal postal packages and envelopes.
On Tuesday the police arrested four suspects in Amsterdam and Werkendam in connection with drug trade on the dark web. They acted as vendors and sent drugs to thousands of people world wide, hidden cleverly in makeup powder boxes, Nintendo games and ink cartridges, among other things, the police said in a statement on Friday.
The wastewater in Amsterdam contains the highest concentration of ecstasy residues in Europe, and Eindhoven is in second place, according to a waste water analysis by the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction.
Crime in Amsterdam fell by 5 percent in 2017 compared to the year before. There were fewer cases of pickpockets, muggings, and violent threats, but the number of home burglaries and robberies increased. Nationwide crime is steadily declining, according to figures the National Police will publish on Thursday, the Volkskrant reports.
Between 2014 and 2016 the number of recorded deaths caused by a drug overdose nearly doubled, according to the National Drug Monitor by the Trimbos Institute and research and documentation center WODC, NOS reports reports.
A drug lab was found in a garage behind a home on Brederolaan in Etten-Leur on Monday morning. Two people, a man and a woman, were arrested, a police spokesperson confirmed to NU.nl.
A large hole was dug into the floor of the garage, according to BN De Stem. Local residents told the newspaper that this hole was a recent addition - a container of sand was recently driven away. Exactly what the hole was used for, is not clear.
The police arrested a 45-year-old man from Eindhoven on Thursday following the discovery of a large number of firearms in a storage box in the city. The man rented the storage box in which the weapons were found.
The weapons were discovered during an investigation into a drug lab the police dismantled on Heydaalweg in Eindhoven on July 7th. The drug lab was located in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Two suspects were arrested that same day, suspected of involvement in the drug lab. Over 200 thousand ecstasy pills were found in the home.
On Monday afternoon the German police arrested a father and son on the A30 after finding 5 thousand ecstasy pills shaped like Donald Trump's head in their car. NL is stamped on the back of the pills, Osnabrück police said on Facebook.
The 57-year-old father and 17-year-old son were pulled over near Osnabrück. According to the German police, the orange colored pills are worth about about 39 thousand euros. A large amount of money was also found in the car.
The two were on their way back from the Netherlands, where they wanted to buy a car, they told the police.
The police seized 7 thousand liters of hydrochloric acid in a barn in Molenschot, Noord-Brabant on Tuesday. Investigators believe the substance was intended for the production of synthetic drugs, the police said in a statement on Wednesday. A 35-year-old man from Ulicoten was arrested.
The police dismantled a drug lab in a residential area of Geldrop, Noord-Brabant on Wednesday. The resident of the house was caught in the act of producing ecstasy pills in a shed behind his house when the police raided the property. The man, his wife and his son were all arrested, the police said in a statement.
Officers found 18 thousand ecstasy pills and 20 kilograms of MDMA, which is used in drug production, on the property. Another 10 kilos of ecstasy was found in a garage box used for storage.
The Koninklijke Marechaussee arrested six Dutch persons in May and June after taking down an online shop for drugs. The six are suspected of running the online store, the Marechaussee said on Facebook on Tuesday.
The suspects ran the drug shop on the dark web. Drugs were sent to customers through regular parcel services, disguised as packages from other online stores.
The suspects come from Haarlem, Lelystad and Hilversum. They are between the ages of 21 and 55 years, according to the Koninklijke Marechaussee - a policing force that works as part of the Dutch military.
Between 2012 and 2016 alcohol consumption in Amsterdam decreased, but the use of hard drugs like ecstasy, cocaine and amphetamine increased, health service GGD revealed in its Amsterdam Health Monitor 2016, Het Parool reports.
For the Health Monitor te GGD questioned over 8,600 Amsterdam residents between the ages of 19 and 64 years about their physical and psychological health, daily habits and health care. The service then compared the results to a similar study done in 2012 and 2008.
Young people in the Netherlands use more drugs than their counterparts in other European cities, according to an annual report by the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). In the age group 15 to 34 years, Dutch were on the top of the list when it comes to ecstasy use in 2015, NOS reports.
A massive 6.6 percent of Dutch in that age group use ecstasy. Ireland comes in a far second place with 4.4 percent. The European average is 1.8 percent.
Two people were hospitalized and one arrested in a brawl in Druten on Pentecost Sunday. Three others were arrested for brawling at a dance event in Breda, the police announced in statements on Monday.
Popular designer drug 4-Fluoroamphetamine, also known as 4-FA and 4-FMP, will be banned in the Netherlands beginning Thursday. The party drug will be on the classified as "List I" under the country's drug laws, meaning it will be labeled as a hard drug.
Arnhem residents will have the opportunity to test their ecstasy pills for free on King's Night, Wednesday April 26th. IrisZorg is setting up an ecstasy testing station on Ir. JP van Muijlwijkstraat 195 where drug users can make sure that their ecstasy is safe, the Gelderlander reports.
The drug testers will use the outer features of a pill - diameter, thickness, color, logo - and an acid test to check whether the pill is on the recognized list. The list contains pills that have been analyzed by a lab several times over the past period. It updates weekly.
Drug criminals seem to be moving their activities from the southern parts of the Netherlands to the rest of the country, especially when it comes to ecstasy, the police concluded from the latest figures on ecstasy, RTL Nieuws reports.
Former CDA treasurer in Leende Wim van der P. was remanded into custody for at least another month by the court in Den Bosch on Thursday. He is suspected of involvement in a massive drug lab found in a building on his property last month, the Telegraaf reports.
CDA treasurer in Leende Wim van der P. denies that he is involved with a major drug lab discovered in a warehouse at his home last week. On Wednesday the 51-year-old man said that he rented the warehouse out and that he is just as shocked and surprised by the discovery of the drug lab as everyone else, ANP reports.
The main suspect arrested in connection with a large drug lab discovered in the Brabant town of Leende last week was identified as Wim van der P., according to newspaper AD. Until last week Friday he was treasurer of the CDA faction Heeze Leende Sterksel.
Carnival group De Lolmaakers in Leende decided not to participate in this year's carnival parades on Saturday. On Thursday the police discovered a massive drug lab on the property where they were building their float. As they are not allowed on the crime scene, De Lolmakers won't be able to finish their float in time for the parade.
Stinky white smoke curling from a chimney led to the discovery of an ecstasy lab in Eindhoven on Sunday.
Passersby noticed the smoke on Rapenlandstraat and called the police around 10:00 a.m. Officers and firefighters agreed that the smelly smoke was suspicious and decided to search the building. Inside they found a large ecstasy lab in "full operation", according to the police. No one was in the building while it was searched.
The police made a gigantic drug bust when they searched a truck in the Zeeland town of Rilland on Thursday night. According to the police, the raw materials they found in the truck can be used to make 1 billion ecstasy pills, ANP reports.
Inside the truck the police found hundreds of bottles of hydrogen gas, 15 thousand kilos of caustic soda (drain cleaner) and 3 thousand liters of excipients. The trade value of the raw materials amounts to hundreds of thousands of euros, according to the Zeeland police on Twitter.
An internationally sought drug dealer was arrested while shopping for groceries in Tilburg this weekend. The 38-year-old man is believed to be part of the mafia and was arrested at the request of the Italian authorities, NOS reports.
The Italian authorities suspect the man of heading an organization that traffics drugs - cocaine and ecstasy in particular - on Sardinia. He has both Dutch and Italian nationality and has been internationally wanted since spring last year. The man can face up to 24 years in jail in Italy.
