An investigation into the discovery of cocaine hidden in a flower shipment in January led to a much larger drug bust in April. Ten people were taken into custody who worked for a logistics firm at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam after 160 kilograms of cocaine was found in another flower shipment.
It was not revealed when the arrests took place, but eight of the suspects were still in custody on Thursday.
An unlicensed taxi driver seen soliciting passengers in Schiphol Plaza at the airport was found in possession of a gun, the Marechaussee said in a statement. The man was held in custody at about 4:20 p.m. on Saturday.
Authorities said the 30-year-old was well-known to authorities. He was questioned at the scene and admitted to offering his services as an unlicensed taxi operator, the statement said.
"When asked if the man had weapons or other illegal items, he said he had a weapon on him. A firearm was found in a neck pouch," the Marechaussee said.
High winds were expected all day throughout the Netherlands, prompting the fourth straight day of inclement weather warnings from the national meteorological agency KNMI. Operations at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam showed only a handful of cancellations but dozens of delays.
KNMI issued a code yellow weather alert for Noord-Holland and the Wadden Sea islands, Friesland, Zuid-Holland, Zeeland, and Limburg. Gusts of wind out of the southwest were expected to be between 75 km/h and 90 km/h, the agency said.
Several men were convicted on Monday in connection with a 65 million euro diamond heist at Schiphol Airport in 2005. The highest prison sentence handed down was a seven-year term, even though gemstones worth about 40 million euros were never recovered.
There were over 1,635 kilometers of traffic jams across the Netherlands at 5:05 p.m. on Tuesday, just as the evening rush hour got underway, according to travel association ANWB. A snow storm that started on the west coast in the morning was slowly making its way east, and was still expected to hover over the provinces of Friesland, Groningen, Drenthe, Overijssel, Gelderland, Limburg, and parts of Flevoland and Noord-Brabant past 6 p.m.
Trains scheduled to travel to-and-from Amsterdam Centraal, Schiphol, and stations in the Amsterdam area were scrapped on Tuesday evening due to "a major disruption in the train traffic control systems," national railway NS said in a statement.
A power outage in Amsterdam severely affected operations at the city's Schiphol Airport on Sunday. The problems began early in the morning, with electricity restored by 4:30 a.m., but inbound flights were put on hold, and arrivals were set to be reduced through at least 11 a.m. causing a knock-on effect to the airport's scheduled flights.
Some 67 departures and 66 arrivals were cancelled through 8 p.m., as well as dozens of delays, according to the airport.
A man who was shot by security troops at Schiphol Airport on Friday afternoon after allegedly threatening people with a knife was identified as a 29-year-old man from Den Haag. The shooting happened in the Schiphol Plaza, the airport's primary entryway which also provides access to the train station below.
Three shots can be heard in amateur video recorded in the plaza.
A man acting in a threatening manner was shot at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport on Friday, the Marechausse said in a statement. The situation was under control and returned to safety following the incident, the military branch announced on Twitter just after 4 p.m.
The suspect was overpowered and apprehended, they said. No further comment was made, but the Marechaussee said it would release further details later.
The Schiphol Plaza was evacuated following the incident.
There is a consistent increase in the police helicopters deployment as a support to the police forces on the ground. According to police statistics acquired by BNR, the police helicopters were mobilized 2,082 times in 2015, while this year they were deployed over 3,121 times to date, an increase of about 50 percent.
The Dutch police have eight helicopters flying mainly from Schiphol Amsterdam and Rotterdam-The Hague Airport. They are mostly used over the Randstad megaregion.
Police in Amsterdam arrested eight suspects connected to a plot to excessively overcharge taxi passengers picked up at Schiphol Airport. In one case investigated by authorities, a Swedish man was ordered to pay 595 euros for a ride from the airport to Amsterdam city center, a taxi fare that normally costs between 40 and 60 euros.
Commuters trying to navigate the Amsterdam area were advised to allow for plenty of extra time if using the highways on Monday evening after a fire in a Schiphol Tunnel passageway led to the closure of both the tunnel and the southbound A4 motorway towards Den Haag. Drivers were told to divert to the congested A2 to Utrecht, and then take the A12 road west as an alternative, adding 30 to 40 kilometers to the drive home.
There were no reported injuries in the fire, but the fire did damage safety systems in the tunnel.
A massive 58.2 million passengers traveled through Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam last year, an increase of 6 percent compared to 2014. The number of aircraft movements increased by 2.8 percent to 450,697, the airport announced along with its annual figures on Friday.
The Amsterdam D66 wants the Noord/Zuid subway line to be extended to Schiphol Airport, despite the high costs this may entail. The party submitted a proposal, which is backed by the PvdA and VVD, to start an feasibility study into extending the line as soon as possible
Striking Lufthansa cabin crew members are making an impact on Dutch travelers on Monday. Thirteen of the 929 flights the German airline had to cancel on Monday, were flights to and from Schiphol airport.
Schiphol Airport is the second most expensive airport to park a car for short or long periods in the region, according to website Vliegveldinfo.nl's Fall Report 2015. Only the airport in Brussels, Belgium is more expensive than Schiphol.
Budget airline Ryanair will be opening a base at Schiphol airport this winter. The airline's initial plan is for about 10 flights per day.
Transavia and the Dutch Safety Board are investigating the bumpy landing of the Transavia flight from Spain to Rotterdam on Saturday. One of the things the investigations will look at is Eindhoven Airport's actions while the low on fuel plain was looking for somewhere to land
On Saturday the Netherlands was hit by the largest summer storm since the weather measurements started in 1901. One person died after a tree fell on his car and several other people were wounded. The storm resulted in closed highways, dozens of delayed flights, delays in public transport and a significant amount of damage.
Schiphol taxi drivers are striking on Monday in protest against the fact that any taxi driver is now allowed to pick up passengers at the airport. Until recently, taxi drivers needed an expensive permit to do so. The taxi drivers will not pick anyone up between 9:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m., NU reports.
The Schiphol parking services P7-self parking and Qube Valet sometimes use the cars of unsuspecting customers for private trips, according to television program Groete van MAX.
Schiphol Airport is opening its new security check points on Wednesday. The many dozens of checkpoints at the gates have been replaced by 5 central areas where passengers have to go through security checks.
Schiphol Airport will conduct passenger screening and carry-on baggage security checks at five centralized control points instead of at boarding gates, newswire ANP reported. The changes are set to begin on June 3rd.
Customs officers at Schiphol airport confiscated more than 5,500 counterfeit football uniforms of Spanish clubs FC Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico in two cargo shipments.
