Venlo

A quarrel between neighbors got completely out of hand in Venlo on Monday night. A man stabbed his neighbor with a knife, who then came outside with a firearm and shot his assailant, the police said in a statement.

The incident happened around 8:30 p.m. on Pieter Breughelstraat. A trauma helicopter was deployed to the scene. Both men were taken to hospital by ambulance. Their current condition is unknown. 

What caused the disagreement between the two men, is not clear. The police are investigating.

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.

The police raided at least 15 locations in the south of the Netherlands on Monday morning as part of an ongoing investigation into drug production and trafficking. Six people were arrested, ANP reports.

In Echt, Limburg, the police found thousands of liters of raw materials used in the production of synthetic drugs. A drug lab and storage were found in Zaltbommel.

The police also raided locations in Venlo, Odiliapeel, Eindhoven, Den Bosch, Schijndel, Uden and Velden. What was found has not been revealed as yet.

Geert Wilders and his PVV won city council seats seats in each one of the 30 municipalities the party participated in during the municipal elections on Wednesday. In total the PVV currently stands on 74 seats, the Volkskrant reports.

During the previous municipal elections four years ago, the PVV only participated in two municipalities - Almere and The Hague. The party got fewer seats in those two municipalities this time around. In Almere the party dropped from nine to seven seats, and in The Hague from seven to two seats. 

The police raided a dozen locations in Oost-Brabant, Limburg and Gelderland early on Wednesday morning as part of an ongoing investigation into the trade of chemicals and narcotics. Five suspects were arrested, the police said in a statement.

The raids started at 6:00 a.m. on Wednesday. Police officers stormed homes and storage units in Geldrop, Helmond, Someren, Venlo, Venray, Nieuw Bergen and Velddriel. The police are still searching through these locations, and expect that this will take up a large part of the day. 

A 25-year-old man found dead in a Breda flat earlier this month is very likely one of two perpetrators of a violent robbery in Bladel last year, according to the police. That robbery forms part of an investigation into Rabobank employees tipping criminals off about people withdrawing large sums of money at the bank.

The police found trace evidence in the Bladel victim's home that investigators linked to the man murdered in the Breda flat, the police said in a statement on Wednesday. 

For the coming month, the police will be allowed to search people for illegal weapon possession in large parts of Venlo, even without concrete suspicion, mayor Antoin Scholten announced. This measure was implemented due to unrest in the city following a fatal shooting in the Blerick district last week. "The question is whether preventative searching will restore rest in Blerick", PvdA city councilor Hay Janssen said to NOS. "We underestimated what is happening in Blerick."

A 22-year-old man was killed in a shooting in the Venlo neighborhood of Blerick on Wednesday afternoon. A 21-year-old man from Tegelen was arrested. Following the shooting, angry local residents took to the streets and started throwing stones and sticks at the police. The riot police had to intervene, AD reports.

The shooting incident started on Diependijkstraat around 1:30 p.m., according to the police. The victim was found on Nieuwborgstraat.

A 23-year-old man from Helmond was arrested for the fourth time on Tuesday on suspicion that he cut off a lock of a young woman's hair. His latest victim lost some of her hair on the train from Eindhoven to Venlo on August 12th, NU.nl reports. 

The young woman pressed charges and the police launched an investigation. Witness statements led the police to the Helmond man. The police confirmed to the newspaper that he was previously arrested for doing, or attempting to do, the same thing to other women.

One person was killed in a shooting on Klingerbergsingel in Venlo during the early hours of Tuesday morning, the Limburg police said on Twitter.

The shooting happened around 3:00 a.m. and the victim is male, according to De Limburger. Emergency services responded en masse, but the man could not be saved.

The circumstances surrounding the shooting are still unclear. The police closed down the crime scene and are investigating. 

In Venlo a police car crashed into a pole after the officer driving had to swerve out to avoid another police car. Two police officers were taken to the hospital, NOS reports.

The accident happened around 4:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning. The officers were responding to a report of a break in at a supermarket in Horst. 

The car that crashed into the pole sustained severe damage. The extent of the officers injuries is unknown.

No one was arrested for the break in, a police spokesperson said to NOS.