Rotterdam is one of the most important centres for the global cocaine trade and between 25% and 50% of western and central European consumption is smuggled through the port city, according to Dutch police.
The police base their claim on 2013 drug seizures which show Rotterdam has overtaken Antwerp as the centre of the western European trade. The claim was made at a seminair on the cocaine trade, the Volkskrant reports on Wednesday.
Last year Belgian police seized 4,800 kilos of cocaine in Antwerp while Rotterdam seizures totalled almost 10,000 kilos. But in 2012, Dutch police found just 3,600 kilos of cocaine in Rotterdam, compared with 18,000 kilos in Antwerp.
11 million containers
The police stress that the exact volume of cocaine imports is hard to quantify. Only 50,000 of the 11 million containers which reach the port every year are scanned, on the basis of a risk profile.
Rotterdam professor of criminology Henk van de Bunt told the paper the focus on Schiphol airport may have influenced the switch to Rotterdam.
All passengers arriving from Curacao, the Dutch Antilles, Venezuela and Suriname are checked for drugs. This has led to a 33% drop in smuggling, Van de Bunt said.
Criminologist Damian Zaitch from Utrecht University said he thinks the Netherlands has got its priorities wrong. 'Just 5% of cocaine smuggling is airborne so why do we pay so much attention to Schiphol?' he is quoted as saying. 'It would be sensible to switch this effort to Rotterdam.'
Rotterdam at centre of European cocaine trade "Dutch Police"
Forum rules
Discuss anything about Western European street gangs and organized crime.
Discuss anything about Western European street gangs and organized crime.
-
- Middle Weight
- Posts: 917
- Joined: February 9th, 2009, 10:06 pm
- Country: Canada
- If in the United States: Arkansas
- What city do you live in now?: Toronto
-
- Newbie
- Posts: 9
- Joined: September 1st, 2008, 2:36 am
- What city do you live in now?: Rotterdam
Re: Rotterdam at centre of European cocaine trade "Dutch Pol
You never saw a gram of cola in your life! All you do is posting articles...
-
- Light Heavy Weight
- Posts: 1387
- Joined: August 2nd, 2004, 5:55 pm
- Country: Finland
- If in the United States: Alabama
- What city do you live in now?: see above
- Location: Hellsinki, Finno-Ugria
Re: Rotterdam at centre of European cocaine trade "Dutch Pol
How much cost a gram of cocaine in Holland? How about amphetamine?
-
- Middle Weight
- Posts: 917
- Joined: February 9th, 2009, 10:06 pm
- Country: Canada
- If in the United States: Arkansas
- What city do you live in now?: Toronto
Re: Rotterdam at centre of European cocaine trade "Dutch Police"
Prosecution service launches anti-corruption campaign at Rotterdam docks
The public prosection service has launched a crackdown on corruption at Rotterdam’s port amid concerns about the scale of organised crime at the docks.
Prosecutors say they are aware criminals are approaching dock workers, including customs officers, truck drivers and personnel at freight companies, but admit the extent of the corruption is not known.
‘Criminals pay €5,000 to borrow an access pass,’ prosecutor Loes van Wees told NOS. ‘But we know of amounts of several times that, up to €70,000.’
Last April a 54-year-old customs officer, Gerrit G, was arrested following the discovery of a consignment of 400 kilograms of cocaine. G is accused of taking payments from gangs to ensure that containers full of drugs passed through the port unchecked.
G, who worked in the customs service for 30 years, is said to have received 7.5% of the market value of every drug consignment he removed from the checking system. A bag containing €1m was found during a search of his home.
‘No going back’
Once a dock worker becomes involved in the criminal trade there is no going back, Van Wees said. ‘You can’t just do it once or twice and then say: no more. We know stories of people who wanted to stop and received threats.’
The prosecution service says it suspects people smugglers and cargo thieves are manipulating the system, as well as drug traffickers.
‘We grab thousands of kilos every year, but it’s not unusual to suppose that several times that amount makes it through,’ said Van Wees.
She added that there was evidence that human traffickers were moving their operations from the French and Belgian ports to Rotterdam. ‘We see signs that this is happening,’ she said.
The public prosection service has launched a crackdown on corruption at Rotterdam’s port amid concerns about the scale of organised crime at the docks.
Prosecutors say they are aware criminals are approaching dock workers, including customs officers, truck drivers and personnel at freight companies, but admit the extent of the corruption is not known.
‘Criminals pay €5,000 to borrow an access pass,’ prosecutor Loes van Wees told NOS. ‘But we know of amounts of several times that, up to €70,000.’
Last April a 54-year-old customs officer, Gerrit G, was arrested following the discovery of a consignment of 400 kilograms of cocaine. G is accused of taking payments from gangs to ensure that containers full of drugs passed through the port unchecked.
G, who worked in the customs service for 30 years, is said to have received 7.5% of the market value of every drug consignment he removed from the checking system. A bag containing €1m was found during a search of his home.
‘No going back’
Once a dock worker becomes involved in the criminal trade there is no going back, Van Wees said. ‘You can’t just do it once or twice and then say: no more. We know stories of people who wanted to stop and received threats.’
The prosecution service says it suspects people smugglers and cargo thieves are manipulating the system, as well as drug traffickers.
‘We grab thousands of kilos every year, but it’s not unusual to suppose that several times that amount makes it through,’ said Van Wees.
She added that there was evidence that human traffickers were moving their operations from the French and Belgian ports to Rotterdam. ‘We see signs that this is happening,’ she said.
-
- Middle Weight
- Posts: 917
- Joined: February 9th, 2009, 10:06 pm
- Country: Canada
- If in the United States: Arkansas
- What city do you live in now?: Toronto
Re: Rotterdam at centre of European cocaine trade "Dutch Police"
Rotterdam port officials find cocaine worth €100m hidden in boxes
Customs officials in Rotterdam have discovered 2,900 kilos of cocaine hidden in a shipping container at the city’s port. The drugs were disguised in boxes packed in a shipment of household goods.
The container was shipped to the Netherlands from Curacao and was destined for the German town of Kranenburg. The find was made on March 11 but has only just been made public.
The investigation is ongoing in both the Netherlands and Germany, the public prosecution department said in a statement.
The cocaine, which was hidden in 100 removal boxes, had a street value of at least €100m, officials said.
Police, customs inspectors and public prosecution department officials work together in a special team known as Hit and Run Cargo team, or HARC, to combat drugs smuggling through Rotterdam.
Customs officials in Rotterdam have discovered 2,900 kilos of cocaine hidden in a shipping container at the city’s port. The drugs were disguised in boxes packed in a shipment of household goods.
The container was shipped to the Netherlands from Curacao and was destined for the German town of Kranenburg. The find was made on March 11 but has only just been made public.
The investigation is ongoing in both the Netherlands and Germany, the public prosecution department said in a statement.
The cocaine, which was hidden in 100 removal boxes, had a street value of at least €100m, officials said.
Police, customs inspectors and public prosecution department officials work together in a special team known as Hit and Run Cargo team, or HARC, to combat drugs smuggling through Rotterdam.