Customs authorities intercepted over 2 thousand kilograms of cocaine at the port of Rotterdam in multiple discoveries on Friday and Monday, the Public Prosecutor announced. The drugs were found hidden in shipments of fruit or fruit products from Brazil and Costa Rica.
On Friday, 1,170 kilograms of cocaine were found hidden in a container loaded with mangoes from Brazil. The shipment was destined for a company in Zwaag.
New figures released on Wednesday by public health agency RIVM showed that another 852 people were diagnosed with coronavirus, and 80 more people who tested positive for the virus have died. The Netherlands is now home to 6,412 people in total who have tested positive for the virus, a 15.3 percent increase compared to figures released on Tuesday.
Wednesday's increase in of 852 patients was the highest recorded single-day increase in the Netherlands to date. Nevertheless, the rate of increase fell from the 17.1 percent growth in patients recorded a day earlier.
The next hearings in the trial against the first four suspects in the downing of flight MH17 was postponed until June, to give the lawyers of suspect Oleg Pulatov the chance to study the extensive case file, which consists of at least 36 thousand pages. When the trial resumes, the court will decide on the multiple requests the Public Prosecution Service (OM) made in this case, the Telegraaf reports.
The court in Utrecht found Gokmen T. guilty of opening fire on a tram in Utrecht last March, killing four people. He was sentenced to life in prison on Friday. The sentence is equal to what the Public Prosecutor demanded.
A Dutch translation of the anti-LGBTQ Nashville declaration is not punishable, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) said on Thursday. The Prosecutor said it does not deny that the statements made in the declaration hurt people, but in this case they are protected by both the freedom of religion and the freedom of expression.
"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, to the public session of the Den Haag court at Schiphol. Many have awaited this day for a long time following the terrible disaster in July 2014, when 298 men, women, and children lost their lives," said Senior Justice Hendrik Steenhuis on Monday when he opened the criminal trial into the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17. "This tragic loss has led to many reactions around the world. It has enormous consequences for the relatives of the victims.
A television show presenter was fined two thousand euros for leaving a briefcase in the mess hall of an army base, the court in Zutphen said Monday in its ruling. Prosecutors alleged that the attache case left in 2018 by investigative journalist Alberto Stegeman at the Oldebroek military site was designed to look like a real bomb as part of an investigative report into base security.
The fourth and last day of the trail against Gokmen T., suspected of killing four people in a mass shooting on a tram in Utrecht last year, had a tumultuous start. For the third time, T. was removed from the courtroom, this time for spitting at the judges and insulting them and their mothers, according to AD's live blog on the trial.
The Public Prosecution Service (OM) expects to have to postpone at least 22,700 lawsuits this year due to capacity problems and "more complex lawsuits". Years of budget cuts has left the service with not enough manpower, and the "more complex society" results in lawsuits taking up more time, a spokesperson for the OM confirmed to NU.nl after reports in the Telegraaf.
Prosecutors in the Netherlands demanded a rare life sentence in prison against Gokmen T., the man on trial for killing four people in a mass shooting on a tram in Utrecht on March 18, 2019.
Aziz A., a suspected jihadist who played a leading role in terrorist movement Jubhat al-Nusra according to the authorities, has also been linked to 19 murders in Syria in 2012, the Public Prosecutor revealed in a proforma hearing against the 34-year-old man on Thursday. Complicity in these 19 murders have been added to the suspicions against him, the Prosecutor said, AD report.
A. came to the Netherlands with his 43-year-old brother Fatah. They are both suspected of participating in a terrorist organization, according to the newspaper.
New details about Anouar T., a suspect linked to the daytime assassination of defense attorney Derk Wiersum, were revealed in a court appearance on Wednesday afternoon, with prosecutors revealing portions of a wiretapped conversation which they said are evidence T. was involved in the killing, according to AD reporter Yelle Tieleman tweeting live from the courtroom.
DENK parliamentarian Selçuk Öztürk will not be prosecuted for calling the deaths of Iraqi civilians during two bombings carried out by Dutch F-16 fighter jets "murder" in a parliamentary debate late last year. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) concluded that he had done nothing punishable, AD reports.
Suspect Gökmen T. wrote references to Islam, Sharia and Allah on the firearm used to commit a mass shooting in Utrecht in March last year, "reliable sources" told RTL Nieuws. Soon after the shooting on 24 Oktoberplein on March 18th, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) revealed that text was written on the weapon, but never said what it stated.
The Public Prosecution Service in Antwerp issued a warning against bottles of red wine from Dutch brand Black & Bianco due to the death of a 41-year-old woman from Puurs. The woman died in December, presumably drinking wine from one such bottle. Investigation revealed that she had a deadly amount of MDMA and MDA - substances used in ecstasy - in her blood. Investigators assume that someone added drugs to the wine, NOS reports.
The number of money laundering cases that ended up in court last year increased by a quarter to 1,499 last year. Sentences were imposed in 997 of those cases, an increase of 22 percent compared to 2018, BNR reports based on figures from the Council of Judiciary.
Prosecutors demanded on Monday that television presenter Alberto Stegeman serve 120 hours of community service and three years of probation for leaving a fake bomb in the mess hall of a military base. Stegeman, who presents the hidden camera journalism program Undercover in Nederland, is accused of eluding base guards and surveillance to leave the device as part of the program’s third report o
The court in Noord-Holland on Friday sentenced a 23-year-old man to two years in prison, one of which conditionally suspended, for attempting to extort Albert Heijn's parent company Ahold by threatening to poison the supermarket chain's customers. The man will also be on probation for three years, the court said in a ruling issued Friday.
The Public Prosecutor demanded two years in prison, eight months of which conditionally suspended against Jerry M. - an athletics coach accused of sexually abusing four underage girls. The man himself denies all charges against him, according to RTV Rijnmond reporter Paul Verspeek tweeting live from the courtroom.
The Netherlands' authority on consumers and markets ACM and Dutch telecom providers together revoked 100 numbers that where used for fake help desks to scam people, ACM announced on Wednesday.
Ridouan Taghi was linked to a total of nine ordered assassinations, in which three people were actually murdered, in the Eris trial - the case around motorcycle gang Caloh Wagoh. The ordered assassinations were aimed at 14 people, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) said on Wednesday in an introductory hearing in this case. So far no decision has been made on prosecuting Taghi in this process, RTL Nieuws reports.
The police arrested a 45-year-old customs officer at home in Rotterdam early on Tuesday morning. She is suspected of corruption and money laundering, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) said in a statement.
The police previously searched the customs officer's home and seized administration, money, and data carriers. Whether information from these data carriers and administration led to her arrest, the OM did not say.
The woman was suspended by her employer a short time before her arrest, the OM said.
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 authorities must better adhere to rules around protecting the privacy of crime victims, according to Victim Support Netherlands. These rules are often not adhered to, resulting in victims' names and addresses ending up in files that can be seen by suspects. Victims should be made more aware about possibilities to block their data, Victim Support said to NOS.
