There was a striking increase in the use of methamphetamine, more popularly known as crystal meth, in Amsterdam last year, according to the annual study of waste water in European cities by the European Agency for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), the Telegraaf reports.
For the study, the sewage water of various European cities are tested for drug residue. The Dutch cities of Amsterdam, Eindhoven and Utrecht are part of the study.
The Australian border police in Sydney discovered a number of champagne bottles that didn't contain champagne, but liquid ecstasy. Most of these bottles were shipped to Australia from Belgium, but a number also came from the Netherlands, France and Germany, the Australian Border Force [ABF] said in a statement.
The police arrested 12 people in the Netherlands for involvement in the production and export of drugs to Scandinavia. A 13th suspect was arrested in Peer, Belgium. The suspects are 12 men and a woman between the ages of 32 and 16 years. They were arrested on Monday, but the police only announced the arrests on Thursday.
The police searched buildings in Utrecht, Vleuten, Woerden, Maarssen, Houten, Almere, Waardenburg, Lopikerkapel and Aalsmeer.
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.
On Friday interim Amsterdam mayor Jozias van Aartsen ordered that a home on De Klencke be locked down for three months following the discovery of large amounts of hard drugs in the home late in March, the Amsterdam municipality announced on Monday.
4.53 kilograms of MDMA, almost 40 thousand euros in cash, a sealing device, packaging materials and a gas gun were found in the home, NU.nl reports.
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.
Two 23-year-old men were sentenced to six years in prison for selling hard drugs on the ark web. Thijs V. from Houten and Mike W. from Muiden were found guilty of selling at least 400 thousand euros of drugs, mostly MDMA, over a period of eight months, RTL Nieuws reports.
The two men hid the drugs in peanut butter bottles and greeting cards and then sent them by post to customers around the world. "They made every effort to carry out their trade in a refined manner", the court in Midden-Nederland said, according to the broadcaster.
An criminal gang suspected of trafficking hard drugs from the Netherlands to Australia was arrested in an international police action, the Dutch Public Prosecutor announced on Tuesday. A total of 17 suspects were arrested, including two Dutch.
A 33-year-old man from Utrecht and a 47-year-old man from Huizen were arrested in the Netherlands on Tuesday. The Dutch police became involved in this case, called Operation Veyda, after the Australian police asked the Netherlands to investigate the origin of drugs trafficked to the country.
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 police made a major drug bust in the Utrecht town of Odijk on Thursday. In a raid on a warehouse the cops found 3,400 kilograms of hashish, 15 thousand MDMA pills and a firearm, the police said in a statement on Friday.
The police raided the warehouse in response to "information received". The drugs and firearm were confiscated.
So far no arrests were made. The police are investigating.
Cocaine use in the cities of Utrecht and Eindhoven increased significantly over the past year, according to the European agency for drugs and drug addiction EMCDDA based on a study on drugs in the sewage of cities, ANP reports.
In Utrecht the amount of cocaine residue found in the sewage was twice as high as last year. According to the researchers' calculations, about half a kilo of cocaine is used in the city each day. In Eindhoven that number is slightly higher.
The Trimbos institute issued a "red alert" warning on Thursday for dangerous ecstasy pills that contain a fatal dose of PMMA. The institute found numerous of these red pills with a Superman logo on both sides.
Ecstasy pills often contains PMMA, but this is an "extremely high dose", a spokesperson for Trimbos said to RTL Nieuws. This high dose triggered the institute to issue the national warning. Trimbos expects to know more about the pills during the course of Friday, but issued the warning immediately due to the Amsterdam Dance Event that started on Wednesday.
The police arrested 55 people and searched 111 locations in the southern parts of the Netherlands in a major ongoing investigation into a network trading in synthetic drugs and cannabis on Monday.
People in the Netherlands were warned against dangerous ecstasy tablets that have extremely high levels of MDMA in them. The Drug Information and Monitoring System (DIMS) is repeatedly finding the bad drugs across the Netherlands, prompting the Trimbos Institute to issue the nationwide warning.
The Dutch drug trafficker Maikel S. has been sentenced to 10 years in prison by a United States court. He was found guilty of selling drugs on a large scale via the now closed website Silk Road.
The police seized 50 thousand liters of chemicals and tens of thousands of euros in cash during a major police action in the southern parts of the Netherlands on Tuesday. Two people were arrested.
A festival-goer at Hardcore XL in Nuland passed away Sunday morning due to a drug overdose, the police believe. The 22-year old died shortly after being admitted to hospital.
Amsterdam, Eindhoven and Utrecht consistently show up in the top ten cities for average drug use, according to a new study published today. The research looked at wastewater samples taken in 45 different cities or city districts between 2011 and 2013, with samples analyzed for cocaine, amphetamines, methamphetamines, MDMA (ecstasy) and THC from marijuana use. Samples were taken over a one-week period in each year.
Drugs criminality is almost overwhelming the police and the Department of Justice in the Netherlands, yet some ex-dealers are saying that most of the criminals they are pursuing are only amateurs. One convicted xtc-producer is even surprised that there aren't more deaths.
In the Breda court a shot was fired Monday, from the public seating, during a session. The suspect is still at large. There were no injuries.
While the police was thinking to raid a cannabis grower, they discovered a large XTC lab. The police announced on Wednesday that the lab had a daily capacity of 200 kilogram of MDMA, the active ingredient in XTC pills.
How much MDMA actually was produced in the lab near Rosmalen has to be revealed by further investigation. No arrests have been made yet.
All drugs found in the building have been confiscated by the police. The SWAT team will guard the place on Wednesday evening since there is still a stock of chemicals in the building.
The Dutch centre of expertise on mental health and addiction, Trimbos-instituut, warns for the dangerous substance PMMA that they found in samples of powder that was sold as ketamine and MDMA, an ingredient of the popular drug XTC.
