The Tax Authority's investigative department FIOD arrested two men in separate investigations into money laundering using cryptocurrency. Roughly a half-million euros in cryptocurrency, fiat cash, and gold was seized in the two cases, the tax investigation agency FIOD said on Tuesday.
The suspects, both arrested on Monday, mainly used bitcoin, but other digital currencies were also used, AD reports based on information from the Public Prosecution Service.
The Netherlands' authorities do not have the capacity to deal with the large number of suspicious transactions that tax advisers, banks and other financial services are obliged to report to them, the Dutch association of tax advisers NOB and the register of tax advisers RB said to newspaper Trouw.
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.
Four banks teamed up with the Dutch government and authorities to fight against financial service providers who launder money for criminals, Financieele Dagblad reported on Friday based on information from an anonymous source.
According to FD, ABN Amro, ING, Rabobank and Volksbank signed a covenant with the National Police, the FIOD, the Public Prosecution Service, and financial intelligence unit FIU. This "serious crime task force" will focus on upper world lackeys who facilitate undermining crime.
On Wednesday a online store was shut down and three homes in Arnhem and one in Hengelo were raided as part of an investigation into sales tax fraud and forgery of documents when importing goods from China, FIOD, the Tax Authority's investigative department, said in a statement on Friday.
A group of six people was being held in connection with raising at least 200 thousand euros in donations, much of which was allegedly distributed to help finance terrorism. Four men were arrested in the Netherlands, and two were taken into custody in Belgium, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) said on Monday.
Donors were duped into thinking the money they contributed was being raised with a goal of "providing assistance to war victims," according to the OM. Instead, much of the money was distributed to ISIS fighters in Turkey and Syria in 2013 and 2014, the prosecution alleged.
Authorities working at the Port of Rotterdam found dozens of kilograms of cocaine hidden among a banana shipment. In total, some 186 kilos of cocaine was found inside the sea container, prosecution service OM said in a statement.
The value of the Tuesday seizure was estimated at between four and six million euros, according to local broadcaster RTV Rijnmond.
The container originated in Colombia, and was first set for Antwerp, Belgium before it continued to Rotterdam, its final destination. “The drugs have since been destroyed,” the OM stated.
In a major investigation into so-called criminal facilitators, the FIOD uncovered a large network of drug, weapons and anabolic steroids traffickers. Six people from Noord-Holland, Zuid-Holland, Utrecht and Flevoland were arrested over the past months. The FIOD seized 450 thousand euros in cash and bank balances, and over a million euros worth of ecstasy, steroids and medicines, AD reports.
Banning cash payments of over 3 thousand euros, regulating cryptocurrencies, and calling for the 500 euros banknote to be taken out of circulations are two of a large package of measures against money laundering that Ministers Wopke Hoekstra of Finance and Ferdinand Grapperhaus of Justice and Security sent to parliament on Monday.
A 33-year-old man from Apeldoorn was arrested on Monday for fraud, forgery and money laundering. According to the authorities, he earned at least 2 million euros by convincing people to invest in Bitcoin mining computers that he never bought, De Gelderlander reports.
On Monday customs officers found a "large batch" of cocaine at the office building of a Rotterdam fruit company on Keilestraat, the Public Prosecutor said in a statement.
The drugs were hidden in a banana shipment from Ecuador, according to the Prosecutor. In a number of pallets full of banana boxes, the fruit was replaced by packages of cocaine. The drugs were confiscated and destroyed.
Customs, the Tax Authority's investigative department FIOD, the seaport police and the Public Prosecutor are investigating. As far as is known, no arrests were made.
The police are busy with a major action in The Hague, particularly focused on the Ypenburg district, on Tuesday morning. Over 30 apartments were raided in the early morning hours. The police suspect that criminals stay in these apartments - they're rented out, but officially no one is registered as living there, NOS reports.
Customs officers in the Netherlands found 70 kilograms of cocaine hidden inside the hold of a ship in Amsterdam harbor. The street value of the seized cocaine is €1.7 million, according to financial crimes investigation service FIOD.
So far, nobody was arrested in connection with the raid. The cargo ship arrived in the Netherlands from Brazil, and was carrying grain.
The packages of cocaine were found on December 16, but authorities only first revealed the bust on Monday. The drugs were later destroyed.
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.
Customs officers found hundreds of kilograms of hard drugs during a check at a storage company in Hazerswoude Dorp, Zuid-Holland on Tuesday. The drugs were hidden in a shipment of Christmas decorations, FIOD, the Tax Authority's investigative department, said on Thursday.
The decorations and drugs were set to be shipped to England. The drugs were seized and destroyed. FIOD and the police are investigating.
A FIOD spokesperson could not tell NOS what type of drugs were involved.
A 61-year-old man from Capelle aan den IJssel was arrested for the private use of 800 thousand euros in donations to foundation Droom Wens. He used the money on gambling sites, in casinos and for private expenses, RTL Nieuws reports.
FIOD, the Tax Authorities' investigative department, could not say how the man is connected to the foundation. Administration, promotional materials, and collection boxes were confiscated from the man's home.
The Public Prosecutor reached a settlement of 775 million euros with ING. The bank allowed customers to abuse their accounts for the laundering of hundreds of millions of euros between 2010 and 2016, NOS reports.
The amount of the settlement consists of a 675 million euros fine and a reimbursement of 100 million euros. According to the Public Prosecutor, ING did not properly fulfill its role as gatekeeper of the financial system and was negligent in preventing money laundering.
An experiment in which the police and Dutch banks exchange the names of terrorist suspects is having possible results. Some 300 suspicious transactions were found over the past year. These transactions are being investigated further, NOS reports.
Two brothers from Utrecht and a woman from Alphen aan den Rijn were arrested on for financing terrorism. They sent money to three men suspected of joining terrorist organizations in Syria and Iraq. The three jihadists are the brothers of the two Utrecht men, and the woman used to date one of them, NOS reports.
Two subsidiaries of construction company VolkerWessels are suspected of paying bribes to obtain construction contracts on Sint Maarten. The Tax Authority's investigative department FIOD is investigating, a spokesperson for the Public Prosecutor confirmed to ANP.
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.
A building that burned down in Bergen op Zoom on Monday night contained an illegal cigarette factory. Tens of thousands of packets of cigarettes were found between the rubble of the burned building on Tuesday morning, Omroep Brabant reports.
The fire started in what was believed to be an empty building on an industrial terrain on Vierlinghweg on Monday night. It caused a massive cloud of smoke that spread over large parts of Bergen op Zoom and was even visible outside Noord-Brabant.
Two men from Deventer has been in custody since March 26th on suspicion of financing terrorism in Syria, the Public Prosecutor announced on Tuesday.
The suspects, aged 28 and 36 years, surfaced during an international investigation into terrorism financing. Between 2015 and their arrest, they paid money to jihadists fighting in Syria through exchange offices in Turkey, according to the prosecutor. They did so on behalf of the Dutch jihadists' friends and family. The Prosecutor did not say how much money was involved.
The Koninklijke Marechaussee and other special investigative services like the FIOD will soon have the authority to launch undercover operations, deploy infiltrators and listen in on confidential communication themselves, according to an adopted legislative amendment that takes effect this summer, the Volkskrant reports.
