organized crime

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.

The Dutch police plans to extend its contribution to international police missions. National Police Chief Erik Akerboom wants to send dozens of extra police officers abroad in the coming years, he said in a statement on the police site on Friday.

In nearly three quarters of court cases against suspects in criminal gangs, the sentences are lower than what the Public Prosecutor demanded, according to a study by Erasmus School of Law on behalf of research program Police and Science. This applies to both the first trials, and appeals, Het Parool reports. 

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. 

A majority of community officers in the Netherlands believe that organized crime can continue virtually unchecked in the cities, according to a study by two Police Academy scientists on behalf of the National Police. According to the community officers, there are too few detectives and this hampers the work of uniformed officers, the Volkskrant reports.

A new wave of assassinations seems to have hit the Nethelrands. In less than five weeks, four people were assassinated, two of them in this week, the Telegraaf reports.

Four assassinations in five weeks is a remarkably high number, given the fact that the average in the Netherlands is about eight a year. The high number is on par for the past three years. At least 60 assassinations were committed during this time. That massive increase is even more remarkable when you take into account that the total number of murders in the Netherlands decreased by about 30 percent since 2002.

The Dutch government does not have much success in collecting penalties form organized crime convicts, according to research by scientist Edwin Kruisbergen. Of the criminally obtained assets the Public Prosecutor demanded back from convicts as part of their sentence, only about a fifth ended up in the treasury, Kruisbergen concluded in his research, for which he received his doctorate, AD reports.

Motorcycle gang related organized crime in the southern parts of the Netherlands is "more serious and deeply rooted in society" than was expected when the judiciary launched its more intensive approach to tackling it, Minister Ard van der Steur of Security and Justice wrote to parliament. He added that the more intensive approach will therefore be continued

The Public Prosecution Service is running out of money, chief executive prosecutor Herman Bolhaar writes in the Public Prosecutor's annual report. An additional 40 million euros per year is necessary for the Prosecutor just to keep functioning. More will be needed to cope with organized crime, corruption and the rapidly expanding cybercrime

Chris van Esch, the 63 year old man who lost his arm and part of his leg in an explosion in Breda last year November, has no faith in the police investigation into the attack. He is very concerned that the perpetrator that very nearly killed him will never be caught, and that he will spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder

A plan to encourage sex workers in Amsterdam's famed Red Light District to develop their chosen profession in a more entrepreneurial fashion by managing their own brothel took a big step forward after a feasibility study conducted by the city showed a good likelihood of success. "It is good for the empowerment of sex workers," Amsterdam Mayor Eberhard van der Laan said at a press conference on Thursday, praising the notion that more sex workers could gain more independence.