More drug labs and users in 2024
The police in the Netherlands found more drug labs in 2024. There were 167, sixteen more than in 2023 and thus a new record. 98 of these production locations for cocaine, heroin or synthetic drugs were discovered in residential areas, according to the annual National Overview of Drug Locations. That is considerably more than in 2023, when there were 72. Most labs were located in an apartment or another type of house.
About 12.3 million Europeans (15-64 years) have used MDMA drugs at least once in their lives. The European MDMA retail market is estimated to be worth at least €594 million per year, which corresponds to about 72.4 million MDMA (ecstasy) tablets consumed in the EU.
Last year, the most MDMA, ketamine and cannabis residues were measured in Amsterdam’s sewage water in the whole of Europe. This is evident from figures from the European Drugs Agency EUDA. When it comes to cocaine residues in European sewage water, Amsterdam is in third place. MDMA was measured frequently in more Dutch cities. After Amsterdam, Antwerp follows first, followed by Rotterdam, Utrecht and Groningen. When it comes to measurements of cocaine residues, Amsterdam takes third place, preceded by Antwerp and the Spanish Tarragona. For the study, the sewage water of 128 European cities in 26 countries was tested for MDMA, cocaine, amphetamine, ketamine, methamphetamine and cannabis. Compared to a year earlier, on average more MDMA, cocaine and amphetamine were measured, while fewer cannabis residues were discovered. The researchers call it ‘remarkable’ that all six illegal drugs tested were found in almost every participating city. In Terneuzen, the police arrested a fugitive man at the end of June 2025 who still had to serve 750 days in prison. He was caught under his bed after a house search and was in possession of a firearm and 50 grams of cocaine. He was arrested again for possession of weapons and drugs. The EVA team in The Hague recently arrested 26 other fugitives, good for 29.5 years in prison. They were often arrested at home, with family, in the car or even on a sunny terrace in Bodegraven.
Dubai and Turkey are done with top criminals
After professional footballer Quincy Promes, dozens more European top criminals have been deported from Dubai. Meanwhile, Turkey is also hunting down the underworld with one mega-operation after another. Criminals can no longer hide carefree in paradise-like refuges. “The feeling of inviolability has completely disappeared.”
Drug lab with more than 450 kilos of a new synthetic drug
The Belgian Federal Judicial Police of Limburg, with the support of the Austrian Directorate for State Protection and Intelligence (Direktion Staatsschutz und Nachrichtendienst) and Europol, seized 74 firearms, dismantled a synthetic drug laboratory and arrested 11 people during action days in May 2025. More than 20 locations in Belgium and Austria were searched during the operation, which targeted a criminal network involved in international firearms trafficking. Eleven suspects had pistols, assault rifles and even grenade launchers for the trade.
On the day of the action, 50 pistols of one brand, 13 other brands of pistols, 4 machine guns, 4 rifles, 1 revolver, 2 alarm pistols, 4 high-capacity magazines for automatic weapons, 16 other magazines and 2 homemade clubs were seized. At one location, law enforcement officers found a drug lab and more than 450 kilos of a new synthetic drug. In addition, the premises were used as a storage facility for illegal cigarettes. The arms dealers based in Belgium are said to have had contacts with arms dealers throughout Europe, including Austria. The Austrian suspects, two of whom were arrested in Belgium, are said to have supplied a large number of weapons to the criminal network. They were already known to the police for obtaining large quantities of weapon parts in Austria and illegally exporting them.
Certain weapon parts can be obtained in Austria without a permit. This legal situation is often abused by criminals to assemble weapons with parts obtained from different sources. After the arrest of the two individuals who lived in Austria and the seizure of 50 pistols by the Belgian police, the Austrian Directorate for State Protection and Intelligence was able to establish that the grips of these weapons had been purchased in Austria. Subsequently, searches were carried out in the homes of the arrested individuals, resulting in the seizure of several data storage devices.
Drug checks
Designer drug ban to come into effect from July 1
4500 kilos of cocaine found in the port of Amsterdam
On Tuesday 24 June 2025, the police arrested a 42-year-old man from Amsterdam who may be involved in the smuggling of 4,500 kilos of cocaine. The large shipment of drugs was found two weeks ago in the port of Amsterdam. The drugs found were professionally hidden between a load of wood, which originated from West Africa. Customs had selected the container for a further inspection on Friday 13 June after an increased risk.
The container had arrived in the port of Amsterdam a day earlier. The inspection was carried out by customs officers with the help of sniffer dogs and scanning equipment. Ultimately, 4,500 kilos of cocaine were found, which according to the Public Prosecution Service has a wholesale value of 112 million euros.
After the discovery, the Amsterdam resident came to the attention of the police. He was arrested on suspicion of involvement in the smuggling of the drugs. Several business premises were also searched. The drugs were seized and have since been destroyed, the Public Prosecution Service reports. The investigation into the case is still ongoing. More arrests are not ruled out by the judiciary.
Drugs (cannabis) in Haribo sweets
Cannabis was found in Haribo candy. Several people became unwell after eating Haribo candy. The product in question was one-kilo bags of Happy Cola F!ZZ, with an expiration date of January 2026. Candy manufacturer Haribo previously reported that bags were in circulation that ‘can lead to health problems such as dizziness’ when consumed. The cannabis was found after several people, both children and adults, became ill after eating the cola bottles. They reported this to the police. “How the cannabis ended up in the sweets is still unknown. The bags have the production code L341-4002307906. Consumers are asked by the sweet manufacturer not to return the product to the store, but to send it to the company. They will then receive the purchase price back. It is not the first time that cannabis has been found in sweets in the Netherlands. In 2023, children playing in The Hague became unwell after they had been given sweets containing THC, the main active substance in cannabis. Drug gangs are also increasingly using sweets as a cover for their trade. Last year, during a raid on a home in Almelo, dealers were caught injecting sweets with THC, among other things. In March of this year, the police found sweets and chips with THC in a garage in Bocholtz, Limburg. It involved more than a hundred bags of sweets and 250 bags of chips. Trading drugs in sweets seems to have blown over from America. It happens more often there. For example, during the horror festival Halloween is seen by dealers as an ideal way to mask their trade.
In the Netherlands, it also seems to be a cunning way to deal drugs inconspicuously. One of the children who ate the Haribo sweets was in a coma for a while. Two children in toddler and preschool age were transferred to two ZGT hospitals in Almelo and Hengelo after eating the sweets. One of those children was then transferred to a children’s hospital because it had fallen into a coma. Haribo conducted a thorough investigation and reports that according to the “local authorities” there are no indications that the contamination occurred within the production locations. How the soft drugs did end up in the sweets remains unclear. “We are working closely with the authorities to find out whether there is another explanation for these reports,” said the Haribo spokesperson.
Shortly afterwards, another It concerns a 9-year-old boy who had to be admitted to intensive care. The NVWA says it is aware of the case, the police are investigating. child in a coma due to cannabis, possibly due to eating Haribo candy. The 9-year-old boy from the province of Zeeland suddenly became seriously ill almost three weeks ago, on Friday 23 May. He vomited, had to cry, had stomach ache, headaches and kept thinking he was going to faint. The emergency services took it very seriously, because ’they feared the worst’, says the mother. Among other things, a trauma helicopter was called and the boy was rushed to the hospital in Goes. The brain scan that was made there did not reveal any cause for the complaints. The boy was then taken to the more specialized Sophia Children’s Hospital in Rotterdam.
By now the boy was in a coma in the pediatric ICU and was no longer responding to anything. “All sorts of things were going through my head,” says the mother. “It was a very anxious period.” Several tests were done and that night the mother was told that cannabis had been found in his urine.
A shock, she says. The day he got sick, the boy had been playing outside and had only been with his grandfather and aunt, places where she says drugs are absolutely not used. That’s why she immediately called the police to report the incident.
After three days, the boy woke up, he was doing a little better and on Monday 26 May he was allowed to go home again. The mother was overjoyed that her child had regained consciousness and had survived, but she still had many questions: how could her son suddenly have cannabis in his urine?
Ndrangheta Mafia
The ‘Ndrangheta, an influential mafia organisation from the southern Italian province of Calabria, has been distributing fentanyl in Europe, profiting from the drug and particularly heroin problems. The European Union estimates that the vast majority of heroin used in Europe comes from Afghanistan, but since the Taliban banned poppy cultivation, the availability of heroin from Afghanistan has declined sharply. Criminal organisations will try to fill the heroin shortage by combining heroin with synthetic opioids, or even replacing them completely, for example with fentanyl. In two separate major operations, the Italian Carabinieri arrested 142 suspected members of the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta mafia, and also seized in Turin “a small remote-controlled submarine” used by an international Italian-Albanian network to transport drugs. On May 14, 142 suspected members of the ‘Ndrangheta mafia were surprised by raids, including clans involved in drug trafficking and traditionally based in the southern city of Cosenza. Some 109 of them were arrested. Those arrested were members of the well-known Lanzino-Patitucci and Zingari family clans from Cosenza, a city in Calabria. An official from the Italian customs and financial police was also arrested during the operation. Another 20 people were placed under house arrest and 13 others were given other restrictive measures. The group is suspected of various crimes, according to the police, including membership of the ‘Ndrangheta, “drug trafficking aggravated by the mafia association” and other offences. Vincenzo Capomolla, the public prosecutor of Catanzaro, said that mafia groups were “choking” Cosenza’s shopkeepers and businessmen through extortion. Their main activity was drug trafficking, but sometimes with the help of children, he added. “Drug trafficking was one of the ways the ‘Ndrangheta controlled the area,” he said. “Only people authorised by the ‘Ndrangheta were allowed to trade drugs. “Anyone involved in the illegal trade was punished – financially and physically,” he said. The ‘Ndrangheta is based in Calabria, a poor region at the tip of southern Italy. It is one of the richest and most powerful mafia clans in the country, thanks to its virtual monopoly on the European cocaine trade. It has a presence in some 40 other countries and has a suffocating grip on Italian local government and the general population. A remote-controlled submarine believed to be used to transport drugs as part of another international drug trafficking network was seized. In Turin in northern Italy, marijuana was grown under the guise of running car washes. The network, led by two brothers of Albanian origin, operated between Ecuador,Belgium, France, Spain and Italy. The police report that they have seized a total of 204 kilos of cocaine and hashish during the investigation. In the Netherlands, the mafia invests in Italian restaurants and hotels. Some owners have completed official catering training and have all the papers, but in reality they are money launderers. There are also members of the ‘Ndrangheta among them. In the north of Italy, a 57-year-old nun was arrested. She is said to have been the link between the ‘Ndrangheta mafia and associates of the gang in the prison where she worked. 25 others with ties to the crime syndicate were also arrested. Sister Anna Donelli, as the Catholic woman of the Sisters of Charity Institute in Milan is called, was arrested for a whole series of mafia-related crimes. These include complicity in extortion, drug trafficking and money laundering. Earlier this year, Sister Anna Donelli received an award for her commitment to society in connection with her work in prison. A former councillor of the Brothers of Italy, the party led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and a former politician from a coalition partner of the government were also arrested. They are accused of extortion, arms and drug trafficking and tax crimes, among other things. In total, police seized 1.8 million euros in cash during the operation.
Large mafia organizations work together more
The three largest Italian mafia organizations are increasingly seeking each other out. This is evident from a report by the Italian department for anti-mafia investigations (Direzione Investigativa Antimafia, DIA). According to the DIA, the organizations are joining forces on major public and infrastructure projects, a development that is causing serious concern in the run-up to the 2026 Winter Games in Milan and the planned bridge to Sicily. The mafia is trying to gain access via all kinds of routes. The three largest mafia organizations in Italy – Cosa Nostra, ‘Ndrangheta and the Camorra – traditionally come from the south: Sicily, Calabria and Naples. But their influence now extends far beyond that. They are also active in the north, in cities such as Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo. And that is precisely where the Winter Olympics will be held in 2026. ‘The report shows that these mafias are actually present throughout Italy. Even in areas where you would not immediately expect serious organized crime, such as Tuscany and Umbria.’
Major infrastructure projects such as the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo or the planned bridge between Calabria and Sicily are supervised by both the local and national government. ‘These are two very large projects that involve an enormous amount of money, and the mafias are definitely trying to get their hands on them.’
Take the bridge to Sicily. Whether it will ever actually be built is still the question, according to Valkenet, but there are serious plans. The Italian government wants to invest 13 billion euros in the connection between Calabria and Sicily. ‘The home territory of the ‘Ndrangheta and Cosa Nostra.’ And that is precisely where the risk lies. The mafia tries to get in via all kinds of routes: ‘Either via their own companies or companies registered in the name of someone who seems completely innocent, but does have ties to the mafia.’ Sometimes legitimate companies win a tender and are then approached and put under pressure. They are then forced to purchase services, buy building materials from specific suppliers or work together with affiliated waste processors.
Organized crime is spreading across Europe, fueled by a growing trend of violence among criminals. Cocaine production in South and Central America and Europe is flooded with the drugs. The money earned is mainly invested on the mainland and laundered in the local economy. According to Europol, law enforcement in Europe needs more technical resources, powers and personnel to combat criminal networks. In the Netherlands, the number of registered drug offenses has risen to its highest level in ten years. In 2024, there were no fewer than 1,400 reports. More than 850 more than in 2023. Most drug-related crimes took place in Amsterdam. (1,525) Rotterdam, The Hague and Eindhoven are in 2nd, 3rd and 4th place respectively, followed by Utrecht, Tilburg and Vlissingen. In Vlissingen, the port is a popular transit point. The alternative drug approach in Portugal, which was launched in 2001, was considered one of the best in the world for many years. But almost 25 years later, the streets of big cities like Lisbon have become drug dens. Meanwhile, the problems in big cities are getting worse. For example, between 2019 and 2023, the number of people who died from an overdose in Lisbon doubled, and synthetic drugs are also becoming more prevalent there. The plan made it legal to possess drugs for personal use and legal to use them. As a result, users will not be prosecuted. Instead, problematic cases will be referred to a committee of experts who can offer them help or guidance. The policy is therefore aimed at treating addiction as a health problem, not as a crime. However, drug trafficking and production are prohibited and therefore punishable.
Four major Turkish drug gangs tackled
International law enforcement agencies have arrested 234 suspects in an exceptional operation across Europe. The operation was aimed at four large gangs with branches throughout Europe. The suspects are part of four large Turkish drug gangs, of which 9 were arrested abroad and 225 in their own country. In addition to Turkey, arrests were made throughout Europe, including in the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and Belgium. The gangs are linked to 21 tonnes of narcotics that were intercepted. Furthermore, 13 billion Turkish lira – the equivalent of 300 million euros – in assets were seized, including 681 properties and 127 vehicles. The operation was prepared down to the last detail over the past eight months. The Turkish underworld has traditionally been an important link in the heroin that is smuggled from Iran and Afghanistan to Europe. But according to Minister Yerlikaya, the four gangs are also linked to large-scale cocaine trafficking and the smuggling of XTC. Last summer, dozens of arrests were made in Turkey, including the four alleged leaders of the organizations. One of them is Orhan Ü., a Belgian Turk who was also linked to several Dutch-Turkish leaders. Orhan Ü. was arrested ten years ago in Amsterdam on suspicion of large-scale drug trafficking and was then extradited to Turkey. In France, prisons are being besieged, shot at and cars of prison staff set on fire in revenge. The French Minister of Justice has confirmed that several prisons have been the target of attacks at night. Gérald Darmanin says on X that attempts have been made to intimidate staff in several ways, “ranging from setting fire to vehicles to firing automatic weapons”. These are said to be coordinated incidents. In Toulon, a prison gate was reportedly attacked.
Drug criminals use public chat groups on Telegram where thousands of members post messages offering soft drugs, hard drugs and heavy medicines for sale
Trial with cannabis sales
From 17 June 2024, legal Dutch cannabis may be sold in 80 coffee shops in a four-year trial . The trial was part of the 2017 coalition agreement. Due to the shortage of legal supply, coffee shops may continue to sell their illegal ‘backdoor cannabis’ for the time being. After three months, the intention is that only regulated weed will be sold. Millions were invested by partly foreign investors who wanted to gain a foothold in Europe’s first legal recreational cannabis market. At the end of 2020, ten aspiring growers were selected by lottery for the trial that would start as soon as all ten could supply and the supply was sufficient and diverse enough. But because that did not work, fewer growers will be started . It is expected that two growers will be able to bring the supply to the desired level and will also start supplying in mid-September so that the trial can really start. The participating coffee shops may then only sell legal cannabis (closed coffee shop chain). Producing sufficient cannabis costs an investor between 5 and 30 million euros and their growers must each be able to produce around 6,500 kilos of legal weed per year. The cannabis must be tested in a laboratory and the THC and CBD levels must be stated on the packaging. Only money and valuables transport companies are allowed to deliver the cannabis to the coffee shops. Participating coffee shops in border municipalities are no longer allowed to sell to foreign tourists. Initially, the coffee shops involved were also not allowed to have more than 500 grams of regulated cannabis in stock, but that limit was later increased to a week’s supply. The ten municipalities participating in the trial are: Zaanstad, Arnhem, Almere, Breda, Groningen, Heerlen, Voorne aan Zee, Maastricht, Tilburg and Nijmegen. Breda and Tilburg already started the trial last year. Both regulated and tolerated cannabis were allowed to be sold there. NSC and BBB have spoken out against expanding the trial. The coffee shops in the ten municipalities that participated in the cannabis experiment may only sell cannabis from official growers from 7 April 2025. In this way, the government wants to ensure clarity for municipalities, coffee shop owners and growers. T he experimental phase will start in April in Breda, Tilburg, Groningen, Zaanstad, Almere, Arnhem, Nijmegen, Voorne aan Zee, Heerlen and Maastricht. This phase normally lasts four years. There are currently four growers participating. Three more will join in April 2025. “This will benefit both the choice of coffee shops and the sustainability of the supply.The transitional phase, in which both tolerated and regulated cannabis could be sold, was supposed to end in September. However, that period was extended because production was not yet in order. Growers could not supply enough and coffee shop owners found the quality and diversity of the supply to be substandard. The State Secretary is going against the opinion of participating coffee shop owners who fear that the supply of legally grown cannabis is inadequate. The cannabis trial is currently still in the ’transitional phase’, the initial phase in which people in the ten municipalities participating in the trial can choose between tolerated and regulated cannabis. In the second phase, which starts on 7 April, the dozens of coffee shops will only be allowed to sell regulated cannabis. Despite Coenradie’s insistence on 7 April, there is still a chance of a postponement. On Wednesday, responsible Minister David van Weel of Justice and Security (VVD) and State Secretary Vincent Karremans of Youth, Prevention and Sports (VVD) will consult with mayors about the cannabis trial. ‘On the one hand, to see: are we going to continue with the start date as it is now? And two: what are the obstacles that we may encounter?’ Postponing the cannabis trial will mean a setback for the ten participating growers. They invested millions of euros in cultivation under glass. Since the current Lower House took office, enthusiasm for the cannabis trial has waned. The final phase of the Closed Coffee Shop Chain Experiment will start on 7 April 2025. In this phase, coffee shops in the participating municipalities may only sell regulated cannabis. However, more time seems to be needed to improve hash production and purchasing by coffee shops. That is why the sale of hash will temporarily not be maintained in participating coffee shops. This gives growers more time to get their production in order. The responsible ministers, Minister Van Weel (Justice and Security) and State Secretary Karremans (Youth, Prevention and Sport), informed the Lower House about this on 2 April 2025. At the moment, the government tolerates the sale of cannabis (weed and hash) in coffee shops to consumers. This means that coffee shops can sell weed and hash under strict conditions. They will not be prosecuted for this. The cultivation of cannabis is illegal in the Netherlands. As a result, it is not clear where the cannabis comes from and what its composition is. The aim of the experiment is to investigate whether a closed and regulated chain of production, distribution and sale of cannabis is possible. Mayors of the participating municipalities will not enforce the sale of illegal hash in coffee shops for the first two months. Sufficient supply is important, because a shortage can lead to illegal trade on the street. That is why the growers were given more time to improve their hash production and coffee shop owners are given the opportunity to grow their regulated hash supply.
Cannabis can cause dizziness, nausea, red eyes, dry mouth, anxiety or panic attacks. The drug can even trigger psychosis, especially when combined with alcohol or other drugs
The Netherlands has 573 coffee shops, spread across 103 municipalities where the sale of cannabis is tolerated. Buying and growing is illegal and had to be arranged through the ‘back door’ until now. This tolerance policy does not work for coffee shop owners and the authorities. Dozens of municipalities that suffer from drug crime see the trial as a solution to the problems.
Cannabis is also used for medicinal purposes. Medicinal weed is only available through pharmacies on prescription. In the Netherlands, only the company Bedrocan has government permission to produce medicinal cannabis. It helps against pain, spasms, muscle cramps, MS, rheumatic symptoms, cancer and AIDS. It also offers opportunities for patients with Gilles de la Tourette syndrome. Using weed relaxes the body, which can inhibit sudden spasms. Bedrocan grows thousands of kilos of cannabis annually for pharmacies in the Netherlands and other countries . The Bureau for Medicinal Cannabis (BMC) is the government organization responsible for the production of medicinal cannabis and carries out inspections at the growers. As of April 7, all coffee shops in ten Dutch municipalities will only sell legally grown weed. These are Almere, Arnhem, Breda, Groningen, Heerlen, Hellevoetsluis, Maastricht, Nijmegen, Tilburg and Zaanstad. This means that the coffee shops there are no longer allowed to buy from illegal growers through the ‘back door’. From now on, the almost eighty coffee shops are only allowed to buy from a select group of growers who participate in the experiment. According to coffee shop owners, legal weed is very popular with consumers, but there have been some problems in recent weeks after it became apparent that popular legal weed varieties were not always available. There is hardly any hash anymore, while it is widely used. At the last minute, the government decided to allow the sale of illegal, mostly Moroccan hash for a few more months, in the hope that the legal supply will also grow. According to the government, there is enough weed.
Customs is increasingly putting up barriers against drug smuggling. By working together with other countries, more intensive cooperation in the Netherlands and technological innovations, Customs is making an important contribution to combating undermining. Customs is also committed to tackling excise fraud, such as the trade in illegal cigarettes. Proceeds from excise fraud can be a source of financing for other crimes.
There is a growing danger in Europe that the devastating fentanyl and other synthetic opioids will become as widespread as in the United States. In 2022, more than 70,000 people in the United States died from an overdose caused by such synthetic drugs. 44 percent more production sites than in 2022, which amounts to a total of 151 sites. While the number of cocaine-related production sites has remained virtually the same, the number of discovered heroin-related production sites has increased fivefold (from 2 in 2022 to 10 in 2023) and the number of discovered synthetic drug-related production sites has increased by 50% (from 83 in 2022 to 125 in 2023).
Most drug production locations were discovered in South Holland (40) and North Brabant (35). The fact that so many drug labs were found in South Holland is partly due to the fact that the cutting of cocaine and heroin is concentrated in this province. ‘A major explanation for the increased number of labs that have been dismantled can be found in the increased demand for drugs worldwide’, says Willem Woelders, portfolio holder for drugs. ‘We have strong indications that the demand is increasing. We see this, for example, in the worldwide seizures of (synthetic) drugs that can be related to the Netherlands. People who inject drugs run the risk of contracting infections such as viral hepatitis B and C (HBV and HCV respectively) and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) by sharing drug usage equipment. These infections can cause chronic diseases that can lead to serious health damage, including death. Although the long-term trend of new HIV infections due to injecting drug use is decreasing in the European Union, more than half of reporting countries saw an increase in new HIV notifications in 2022 compared to 2021
The increase in the number of dismantlings can also be seen with MDMA and methamphetamine. Last year, the police found 32 production sites for MDMA and 29 for methamphetamine. The vast majority of this production is intended for export. In 2022, this was 15 for both. Last year, 18 sites were also dismantled where raw materials for the production of MDMA and (meth)amphetamine were produced. Furthermore, 38 amphetamine production sites were discovered, the same number as in 2022. With a new law , which has already been passed by the House of Representatives, the chemicals used that are not necessary for the manufacture of drugs must be banned.
Government wants to amend Opium Act
As of 1 September 2024, or as soon as possible, there will be more room for the trade in cannabis preparations, the trade in cannabis for scientific research, and the incidental trade in medicinal cannabis in general. The aim is to realise a further expansion of the policy before the end of the year, with sufficient safeguards to prevent abuse and taking into account the way in which supervision can be shaped. The aim is to enable the structural trade in medicinal cannabis, with the intervention of the BMC, without restrictions on the volume and frequency of trade. The only exception to this will be the supply of cannabis flos to pharmacies and wholesalers who supply to pharmacies. This will remain the preserve of the BMC, which has contracted parties for this purpose. A final policy change will be implemented as of January 2026, with which the BMC will be restructured and the ‘closed chain’, as it currently exists for the supply of medicinal cannabis to pharmacies at home and abroad, will be revised. The BMC will continue to fulfil the administrative and supervisory role described above. According to the current planning, I will have worked out which frameworks and conditions must be included under this new policy rule, including to continue to guarantee the supply of medicinal cannabis to pharmacies, by January 2025. In doing so, I expect to provide clarity to pharmacies, growers and other stakeholders well in advance about how and via which channels they can obtain and sell medicinal cannabis. After implementing the latter policy expansion, the aim is to reduce the legal role of the BMC by amending the Opium Act. This primarily concerns revising the BMC’s exclusive right to import, export, sell, deliver and have cannabis in its possession. I will consult with my counterpart at the Ministry of Justice and Security about this amendment to the law. Implementing an amendment to the law will take some time and is expected to last at least two years, until at least the end of 2026.
Manure spread mixed with drug waste
Manure mixed with drug waste was spread on three fields in Baarle-Nassau, Brabant. Following an anonymous tip, the police, in collaboration with the Netherlands Forensic Institute, the Environmental Service and the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA), investigated a total of twenty fields. Following the anonymous tip, one field was initially sampled. This showed that it was contaminated with methamphetamine. Because the police had indications that more fields might be contaminated, these were also investigated. Three suspects were questioned. They are men aged 48, 49 and 72, all from Baarle-Nassau and owners of the fields in question. The municipality of Baarle-Nassau, together with the Environmental Service, has set up its administrative instruments against these suspects. Farmers and gardeners are becoming increasingly vulnerable to criminals. Because more and more barns are becoming empty, farmers are becoming an interesting target for criminals. Procedures for a different destination for vacant stables take a long time. Then owners become vulnerable to a criminal offer.
“ Sewage water research shows that Rotterdam is good for 60,000 lines of cocaine per evening
High concentrations of drugs in sewage
The highest concentrations of drug residues in wastewater were found in cities in Sweden, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland. Methamphetamine use, generally low and historically concentrated in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, was also found in Belgium, eastern Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Turkey. Methamphetamine levels observed in other locations were very low, although the most recent data show signs of increases in central European cities. The highest mass loadings of MDMA were found in wastewater from cities in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain. The highest mass loadings of the cannabis metabolite THC-COOH were found in wastewater from cities in the Czech Republic, Spain, the Netherlands and Slovenia. Seventeen countries participating in the 2023 monitoring campaign included two or more study sites (Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Germany, Estonia, Finland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden and Turkey). The study revealed differences between these cities within the same country, which can be partly explained by the different social and demographic characteristics of the cities (universities, nightlife areas and age distribution of the population). Interestingly, in most countries with multiple study sites, no significant differences were found for all substances when comparing large cities with smaller locations. In addition to geographical patterns, wastewater analysis can also detect fluctuations in weekly patterns of illicit drug use. More than three quarters of the cities show higher levels of amphetamine, BE, ketamine and MDMA in wastewater during the weekend (Friday to Monday) than during weekdays. In contrast, the use of cannabis (THC-COOH) and methamphetamine was more evenly distributed throughout the week.
A recent European wastewater project found drug residues (crack cocaine) in all thirteen participating cities and on all sampling days, with the highest levels reported in Amsterdam and Antwerp. Cocaine use appears to be highest in Western and Southern European cities, particularly in cities in Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain. Low levels were found in most Eastern European cities, but the most recent data continue to show signs of increases. When compared to study sites outside the European Union, cities in Brazil, Switzerland and the United States show similar levels of use to the highest-burdened European cities. The highest mass levels of MDMA were found in wastewater from cities in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain.
On April 20, 2025, customs intercepted 633 kilos of cocaine in the port of Rotterdam. This time they used (fake) avocados. The total amount of cocaine had a street value of approximately 16 million euros. The first shipment of cocaine was found in bags between piles of avocados, during a regular customs check. The container in which the drugs were found came from Peru and was transported to the Netherlands via Panama. The other shipment was found a few days earlier, on Friday, at a company in Barendrecht. This involved 80 kilos of cocaine, which was not hidden between but in the avocados. The second find did not involve real avocados, but fake ones, made of plastic. The drugs were discovered after one of the avocados had fallen to the ground and had been broken open. It involved a total of 400 fake avocados. This shipment came from the Dominican Republic and arrived in the Netherlands on April 1. Both shipments of cocaine have now been destroyed. The case is being further investigated by the HARC team, which consists of customs, FIOD, Seaport Police and the Public Prosecution Service.
The number of drug-related deaths in Germany reached a new high in 2023 with 2,227 fatalities. An increase of almost 12% compared to 2022
The European Drug Report 2024 names Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands as countries with the largest quantities of cocaine seized. In 2022, the total amount seized in the entire European Union was a record 323 tonnes. The Netherlands seized 51.5 tonnes that year, according to the report. The European drug market is worth around €31 billion annually. Cannabis has the largest market share, worth over €12 billion, closely followed by cocaine with €11.6 billion. While ecstasy and amphetamines account for smaller parts of the market, 2% and 5% respectively, heroin accounts for around 17%.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore pardoned all 100,000 people convicted of minor (marijuana) drug offenses in his state in June 2024
HARC team
The Hit And Run Cargo (HARC) team is a collaboration between customs , FIOD , seaport police and the Public Prosecution Service in Rotterdam . The HARC team is involved in the investigation and prosecution of major undermining investigations in and around the port of Rotterdam. The team was established more than 25 years ago specifically to combat drug smuggling in Rotterdam by means of the joint collection of information.
Drugs in schools
Secondary schools are struggling with increasingly serious incidents such as drug sales, fights and even prostitution. The Education Inspectorate is receiving the highest number of safety reports ever and is increasing the supervision of schools. Drug sales are a problem at almost every school and some schools have to close their doors during the day because otherwise dealers will come in. At one school, there was prostitution of girls in the toilet. Boys from rival gangs have been banned from the school. Because if they meet in the hallway, fights break out. When asked questions to almost 1,000 teachers and school staff in secondary education, about half indicated that there had been drug dealing and the storage of drugs and/or weapons at school in the past five years. A fifth indicated that students at their school had been recruited by criminals. “What you see is that dealers hang around the school and, for example, hand out free drugs. Ultimately, young people are forced to pay back the drugs by doing odd jobs.”
Drug types
2-3 and 4-MMC
3-MMC has become more popular in recent years, especially among partygoers between the ages of 16 and 35. You can snort 3-MMC or take it as a pill. Last year, 33.7 percent of that group appeared to have used this drug. In one year, the number of poisonings with the party drug 3-MMC has doubled. This is evident from the annual report of the National Poisoning Information Center (NVIC). The poisoning center received 202 reports last year. You mainly see people with high blood pressure, a higher heart rate and a rising body temperature. According to the Trimbos Institute, there are also known cases of people who died after using too much or incorrectly 3-MMC. In the Netherlands, it is also called ‘cat’ or ‘meow’. The drug has the same effect as XTC: it makes you more alert, energetic and empathetic. But unlike XTC, 3-MMC is addictive. Where 3-MMC was previously mainly used when going out, you also see it among 16 and 17 year olds at home. They are not yet allowed to go out and drink, so they use it more often at home. 3-MMC has been on the Dutch drug market since 2012. Because it was a new drug, a so-called designer drug, it was initially not illegal. At the end of 2021, it was put on the list of prohibited substances, the opium list. But that has not affected the popularity of this drug so far. The number of poisonings appears to be increasing. An increase can also still be seen in figures from Trimbos on broader use. It came onto the market after its predecessor 4-MMC was banned. When 3-MMC also ended up on the Opium List, manufacturers adjusted the formula again and 2-MMC was created. This drug is still legal, but its effect is not or hardly different from its banned counterparts. A new law lists three groups of substances that will soon be banned. These substances mimic the effects of MDMA, cannabis and heroin. These include 3-MMC, 4-MMC and 3-CMC.” “In countries around us, seven groups have already been banned. It is possible that these will also be included in the Netherlands at a later time.”
4CMC/Clefedron
4-Chloromethcathinone is a stimulant drug of the cathinone class that is sold online as a designer drug. 4-CMC produces similar effects to mephedrone and has been sold as an alternative drug in countries where mephedrone was on the market. Three men were recently sentenced to six years in prison for running a drug lab for 4CMC. The men must also each pay around 100,000 euros for the cleanup costs of the lab and the destruction of the hazardous substances found there. The drug lab was located in a warehouse in the North Holland village of Rijsenhout. In February 2024, police were led to the lab after a report. A local resident had seen “white mist” coming from the site. The men were arrested in the warehouse. It was the largest drug lab ever discovered in North Holland. Materials and raw materials for the production of the designer drug 4-CMC (Clefedron) were found there. 1000 kilos of that drug were also stored there. The police also found 30,000 liters of chemicals and another 50,000 liters of production waste. The three men were convicted of the large-scale production of 4-CMC and its possession. One of them was also convicted of laundering almost 16,000 euros. Two of the men had stated that they did not know that a drug lab was located in the warehouse. However, investigation shows that all three suspects regularly visited the location. They were seen by residents and this is also evident from data from their phones. In addition, the DNA of the three men was found on oxygen masks in the lab.
Amphetamine
Belgium and the Netherlands are considered the main production centres for amphetamines, with the Netherlands being known for its “industrial-scale methamphetamine production”. In addition, the production of MDMA, or ecstasy, is largely concentrated in or around the Netherlands. In a cheese warehouse in Hengelo, four men were caught red-handed on 8 March 2020 while producing amphetamine oil between cheeses in a warehouse. The street value of all the raw materials present for the manufacture of drugs was around fourteen million euros. Five men were sentenced to prison terms of 24 and 28 months. A suspect from Hengelo received a considerably higher sentence. “In the same warehouse, cheeses were stored for the cheese trade of his mother and stepfather.” On 8 March 2020, the police raided a warehouse on the Topweg in Hengelo. In the professional, fully operational lab, amphetamine oil was made, which can be converted into speed. Several rooms had been built in the attic of the warehouse. Such as cooking and distillation rooms for the drugs, a small canteen and a dormitory with four beds. It involved Dave K. (37) from The Hague – according to the judiciary the one who ran the lab – and three men from the Arnhem area. A little later, Daniele (41) from Hengelo also drove onto the property. He was also arrested. The judiciary was of the opinion that the man from Hengelo was not ‘just’ a front man, who sublet his stepfather’s warehouse to Dave K. from The Hague due to financial problems. According to the authorities, he also helped set up the lab. At the beginning of October 2024, during the substantive hearing of the case, the Public Prosecution Service demanded a one-year prison sentence for Daniele from Hengelo, but the judges in The Hague did not accept this today. They went a step further and doubled the sentence. This means that Daniele will have to go to prison for two years.
The judges took it very badly that the man from Hengelo was built in a warehouse where cheeses were also stored. “In the same warehouse, cheeses were stored for the cheese shop of his mother and stepfather”, which ultimately cost his stepfather dearly. The municipality of Oldenzaal revoked his stand permit to sell cheese on the Oldenzaal market because the cheeses that the stepfather sold contained traces of speed in six different tests. Daniele’s co-defendants have also been sentenced to prison. The men from the Arnhem area will have to go to prison for between 24 and 28 months. The prison stay of Dave K. from The Hague will also be extended by 28 months. The latter is already behind bars for setting up another drug lab, in Amersfoort. K. was sentenced to two years in prison for this lab for the largest drug lab ever in the Netherlands.
Benzodiazepines
Synthetic drugs that do not yet fall under the Opium Act include, for example, LSD-like substances and variants of tranquilizers, so-called benzodiazepines.
Captagon
Captagon was first produced in 1961 as an alternative to amphetamine and methamphetamine, which were then used to treat narcolepsy, fatigue, and the behavioral disorder “minimal brain dysfunction.” Dexamphetamine was already used by the military to help soldiers stay awake for extended periods of time and to “increase courage and bravado.” Captagon was supposed to be a milder version of these drugs. However, in the 1980s, the U.S. government declared it a controlled substance with no currently accepted medical use. Production of the drug ceased in the 1980s. However, illegal production has continued and has increased in Europe and the Middle East in recent years. Some sources suggest that Captagon is one of the most popular recreational drugs among affluent youth in the Middle East. There is no doubt that the “Captagon” that ISIS or ISI and other extremist groups use today to enhance the skills of their soldiers is a far cry from the Captagon of the 1980s. Instead of just two main ingredients, the illicit production likely combines several highly addictive stimulants with compound actions into one destructive pill. This “new age” Captagon, as with any highly addictive substance, is likely to cause irreversible changes to the brain circuits that govern impulse control and judgment, effectively eliminating a person’s ability to reason or think rationally. Presidential dictator Bashar Al-Assad and his family have lived in extreme luxury until his ouster in early December 2024, from golden palaces to a vast collection of extremely expensive cars. The collection includes a Ferrari F50, a Lamborghini Diablo, a Mercedes-Benz SL65 Black Series, an Audi R8, a Revcon Trailblazer, an obscure six-wheeled camper from the 1990s. In addition, dictator icons such as a Mercedes-Benz 600 and a Lamborghini LM002 SUV have been found. During the takeover in Syria, large stockpiles of drugs produced by the regime were found. There was a warehouse full of captagon , a drug that had become the largest export product in Syria and a major source of income for the state.
Cocaine
Cocaine is the second most commonly used illicit drug in Europe, after cannabis. There is growing evidence that its continued high availability is having an increasingly negative impact on public health in Europe. Cocaine is the second most reported illicit drug overall. European drug enforcement agencies, although not nationally representative, note that cocaine was the most common drug they screened in 2022. Available toxicological data suggest that the drug was involved in around a fifth of drug overdose deaths in 2022, often in combination with other substances. Cocaine use can worsen underlying cardiovascular problems. Smoking and injecting cocaine is more dangerous than inhaling it through the nose. Smokable crack cocaine is a form of the drug that is associated with more problematic patterns of use and use by more marginalised groups. Injecting cocaine has been linked to a number of localised HIV outbreaks in Europe in recent years. In Colombia, there is a massive overproduction of cocaine, which has led to a humanitarian crisis in remote communities. Dealers cannot buy as much of the drug as is being grown. Large chunks of unprocessed coca paste are piling up in the jungles of Colombia. In some growing areas, cocaine sales have plummeted or stopped altogether, causing humanitarian instability. The continued decline in cocaine production has led to the population of the village of Cano Cabro dropping from 200 to 40 people. Previously, the villagers had only one source of income: cocaine production.
Crystal Meth
‘Crystal Meth’ is an extremely addictive hard drug that also causes more permanent physical and brain damage than, for example, amphetamine or cocaine. It is also difficult to dose. A fatal overdose is therefore just around the corner. The other downside of these drugs is that the trade in them is extremely lucrative. The prospect of possible ‘easy’ money means that people are recruited by drug criminals. November 14, 2023 came from the suitcases of three British women between the ages of 23 and 25 who had flown from Los Angeles to Schiphol. 23 sealed packages containing 92 kilos of Crystal meth (street value approximately 4.5 million euros). The public prosecutor later demanded prison sentences of up to 4.5 years against the women for smuggling drugs. Based on the guidelines of the Public Prosecution Service for the import of 50 to 100 kilos of hard drugs by a courier, the starting point is a prison sentence of 4 years and 6 months. This is also what the public prosecutor is demanding against the woman who had the most drugs in her suitcases and, unlike the other two women, did not immediately come clean. She is demanding a prison sentence of 4 years and 3 months against the other two. Verdict on 14 May. The three women were subjected to a drug check on the day in question, after they had tried to pass through the so-called green passage (nothing to declare). A Customs employee saw that after their arrival at the baggage carousels they had walked back and forth repeatedly, before at some point choosing the green passage. They were spoken to, after which their luggage was checked using, among other things, an x-ray scan, after which it turned out that each of the four suitcases contained transparent packages with what later turned out to be crystal meth. One woman had two suitcases with a total of twelve packages. The others had five and six packages in their suitcases respectively. Investigation showed that the women would receive around 10,000 pounds for importing the drugs. Two of them confessed and stated that they had worked together with the three of them. It could be concluded from the suspects’ telephone data that at least two of them were not doing it for the first time. This is evident from the chats, many stamps in their passports and photos of large wads of money. The file does not show that the suspects acted under pressure. They were mainly driven by financial gain such as being able to start a nail salon, pay off braces, or obtain a driver’s license. During an inspection in March 2024, customs found the largest quantity of crystal meth ever in the Netherlands. It involved a consignment of more than 3,200 kilos from Mexico that was destined for a company in Den Hout, in North Brabant. The crystal meth had a commercial value of 22.4 million euros. In the investigation, the police arrested a 55-year-old man from Den Hout. He has since been released, but remains a suspect in the investigation. In contaminated substance
The drugs were hidden in large bags with a sand-like substance. The substance was heavily contaminated with copper and PFAS, which meant that a long search was needed to find a way to destroy the batch.
In February 2022, an underground meth lab was discovered on the Loofrietweg in Ambt Delden. A two-year sentence was demanded against 78-year-old Johannes van K. for his involvement in the production of crystal meth. The Public Prosecution Service states that the manure pit under the horse stable would never have been transformed into a crystal meth lab without the help of the elderly Brabander. A hidden elevator in one of the horse stables led to the manure pit converted into a drug lab. In the investigation into the drug bunker, the Public Prosecution Service has focused its attention on four suspects: the couple Valeria L. (45) and the English Karim O (40), who have since separated. The Brabander Johannes van K. (78) and the handyman on the property, 61-year-old Chris B. from Den Ham. The court initially only dealt with the cases of Karim O. and Johannes van K. The other two suspects were absent for various reasons. Valeria asked not to have her case heard at the same time as her ex’s, as he is also suspected of assaulting her. Johannes has admitted to mediating, but denies ever having seen the underground lab or the drugs that were produced there. He says that his role as an intermediary was an easy way to get out of financial trouble: “You don’t get tired of handing over money either. I just had to hand over a few thousand euros once a week,” says the elderly Brabander. When asked by the judge why he never ‘stepped out’, the man says that this was simply not possible due to serious threats: “I actually came from the hemp industry, that world is just old-boy-raisin-bread, everyone knows each other. But these are really not nice guys (…) They told me: ‘We have one rule; if you talk, your family will be killed.'” The judge did not believe Valeria L.’s story. She ends up in prison and her groundskeeper Chris B. and Johannes van K., who had arranged the location, await the same fate. The owner denies to this day that she had anything to do with the drug lab. When the court asked last month whether she knew what was happening under her horse stables, she said that she only knew that “things were happening that were not allowed”. For example, she said that she saw ‘coloured men with weapons’ walking on her property. People she has never spoken to.
When asked by the judge why she never went to the police to tell them that things were happening on her property that were not entirely right, she said that she felt threatened: “Everyone was using drugs, I could say whatever I wanted, but I had no control over my own property anymore.” The judge nevertheless imposed an unconditional prison sentence of four years on Valeria L., considerably more than the demanded 32 months, of which 14 were conditional. By making her property available, L. was complicit, the verdict reads. The woman must also repay the money she earned from the lab, no less than 39,450 euros.
Chris B. (61), the groundsman of the yard, is seen as the mastermind behind the plan to build the drug lab in the cesspool. The judge also found it proven that he provided assistance to arrange matters surrounding the lab. For that reason, Chris B. was also given an unconditional prison sentence of four years. He also has to repay his earned drug money, an amount of 13,200 euros. At the hearing last month, Chris B. submitted a request to challenge the court. According to B., the judges had made a premature decision to allow the trial to continue. He felt that the court ignored his right to be present at the trial, which he had to miss due to back problems. B.’s request for challenge was declared unfounded. It did not stop at two convictions in this case. Johannes van K. (78) from Brabant must also serve four years in prison for his role in the Delden lab. Without his input, the drug lab would never have existed, the judge ruled. Van K. must also pay back his earned drug money, a whopping 24,000 euros. The Brabander allegedly received an amount of 2,000 euros twelve times, each time meth was ‘cooked’. Karim O., the boyfriend of owner Valeria L. at the time, was also initially suspected of involvement in the lab. The Englishman denied any involvement and was acquitted due to lack of evidence. He was, however, given a suspended prison sentence for repeatedly assaulting his then partner Valeria L.
Fentanyl
Fentanyl is 50 times more powerful than heroin and 100 times more powerful than morphine. The risk of overdose among fentanyl users is high, because even in small doses it is life-threatening. Italy warns that the mafia wants to create a larger market for drug trafficking in Europe. According to the intelligence services, the mafia is also interested in the distribution of the so-called zombie drug, or xylazine. The British authorities recently warned that xylazine is responsible for the first eleven deaths in the country. On the Mexican side of the border, the zombie drug fentanyl is also causing a crisis. Every day, the same street in the Mexican border city of Tijuana is full of addicts. Some have their heads covered with a coat, as if they no longer want to look at the world around them. Others look blankly at the dusty asphalt. Since drugs such as heroin and crystal meth were suddenly mixed with fentanyl, of which only a very small dose is enough to cause an overdose, many have died. After US authorities tried to tackle the huge addiction problem around painkillers, Mexican cartels jumped on the market with fentanyl. The drug is faster and cheaper to produce than heroin, it is easier to smuggle and people become even more addicted to it. The border crossing between Tijuana and San Diego became the epicenter of drug trafficking. Fentanyl is now the number 1 cause of death among Americans between the ages of 18 and 45. Every year, around 100,000 Americans die from an overdose of the drug.
There is little support from the Mexican government for tackling the addiction problem. In the border city of Mexicali, the social organization Verter has focused on supporting addicts since the arrival of fentanyl. There is even a user room for addicts, the only one of its kind in Mexico, where people can use safely and the organization can intervene if they suffer an overdose. Addicted men and women are knocking on the door to get clean needles or to have their wounds treated. In the border city of Mexicali, a user room has been set up where addicts can inject fentanyl under supervision. In almost all states in Mexico, authorities do not have the means to detect whether fentanyl is present in drugs or in deceased people. The approach to fentanyl in cities such as Tijuana and Mexicali is further complicated by the fact that the majority of addicts there avoid the authorities because they have been deported from the United States.”Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador”,.
On December 3, the FIOD and the National Investigation and Intervention Unit found 25 kilos of a raw material for Fentanyl in a criminal investigation. After the discovery of the substance, a telephone and computer were seized in a business premises in Amsterdam on Thursday, December 5. The criminal investigation started after a signal that the FIOD received via the Central Reporting Point for Suspicious Chemical Transactions. After this signal, the shipment of 25 kilos of the substance N-Boc-4-piperidone was found and seized. This substance is a precursor for the production of Fentanyl. As far as is known, this raw material was not intended for the pharmaceutical industry. An initial calculation showed that with 25 kilos of N-Boc-4-piperidone, more than 15 million user quantities of 2 milligrams of Fentanyl can be produced. Fentanyl is used in the medical world on prescription as an anesthetic and painkiller. It is a substance with an effect comparable to morphine, but many times stronger. A study published in The American Journal of Drug And Alcohol Abuse found that more than 3,000 nonfatal cases of fentanyl poisoning were reported in children between 2015 and 2023, with more than a third of them accidental. The synthetic opioid fentanyl, originally developed for severe pain relief, is up to 100 times more potent than morphine. Unlike other opioids, which require higher doses to be legal, just two milligrams of fentanyl — an amount smaller than a grain of salt — can be fatal. The study, which analyzed nonfatal fentanyl exposures in children ages 0-19 reported to U.S. poison control centers in 49 states from 2015 to 2023, found that serious incidents are on the rise. In 2023, for example, 44.6 percent of incidents were life-threatening, up from 15.9 percent in 2015, indicating increasing severity of cases. The study also found that most patients aged 0-12 years were unintentionally exposed (81.7 percent), while 65.7 percent of patients aged 13-19 years used fentanyl intentionally for non-medical purposes. Most cases (58.9 percent) involved youth aged 13-19 years, while 41.1 percent involved children aged 0-12 years. “Parents should be aware that teens can purchase pills through apps that are marketed as Adderall or Xanax but actually contain fentanyl. Fentanyl rapidly crosses the blood-brain barrier and binds to opioid mu receptors, causing sedation, analgesia, respiratory depression, and apnea. Respiratory depression and apnea lead to insufficient oxygen in the blood, which can rapidly lead to organ damage and death,” he said. Accidental exposure in children is all too common.Even indirect exposure to fentanyl can be fatal, and used fentanyl patches, for example, pose a significant risk to children. Symptoms of an opioid overdose include “decreased or absent consciousness, shallow or absent breathing, pinpoint pupils, blue lips or fingertips, pale or clammy skin, and a slow heart rate or low blood pressure.” Having naloxone available can reverse a potential opioid overdose. Bystanders are present in approximately 40 percent of illicit opioid deaths, so it is essential that bystanders are able to respond.
Flakka
Conclusion
Flakka is an extremely dangerous and addictive synthetic drug that has serious short- and long-term health consequences for its users. The drug not only causes physical damage, such as overheating and heart problems, but can also lead to psychological instability and violent behavior. Because it is so difficult to dose, and its effects are so unpredictable, Flakka is one of the most dangerous drugs to have recently appeared on the world market. The ban on the drug is a step in the right direction, but it remains a major challenge for authorities to effectively stop its spread. Flakka, also known as α-PVP (alpha-pyrrolidinopentiophenone), is a powerful and deadly synthetic drug that belongs to the cathinone group.
These substances are manufactured in laboratories and show strong similarities to the natural stimulant khat. Flakka, which is often found in the form of crystals, gained worldwide notoriety for the extreme and often uncontrollable behavior it causes in users. The drug caused a lot of media commotion between 2014 and 2016, especially in the United States, where it became known for bizarre and violent incidents in the state of Florida.
Flakka is a synthetic stimulant that works similarly to amphetamine and cocaine, but with much more dangerous effects. The chemical name for the drug is α-PVP, and it is often referred to as “gravel” because of its crystalline form that resembles salt or sugar. Flakka is most commonly snorted, swallowed, injected, or smoked—sometimes with an e-cigarette, but more often with traditional smoking pipes.
It is often classified as a designer drug, meaning it is a synthetic product designed to have similar effects to existing banned substances, but with slight chemical variations to circumvent legislation.
Flakka primarily acts as a stimulant, meaning that it speeds up the brain and nervous system. This often has euphoric effects, but can quickly turn into extreme side effects. The effects of Flakka are unpredictable and can lead to serious health and behavioral problems even in small doses. Users temporarily feel extremely cheerful and energetic, concentration can improve temporarily, but it can also lead to paranoia and can cause intense feelings of anxiety and suspicion.
Users can no longer perceive reality properly and think they see things that are not there, and many users exhibit violent or dangerous behavior. The drugs can cause an increased heart rate and blood pressure, which can lead to heart palpitations or even heart attacks. Body temperature can quickly rise to dangerously high levels, which can lead to organ failure.
Flakka can lead to psychosis, long-term anxiety disorders, and in some cases even death from overheating or cardiac arrest. Even after a single use, long-term psychological problems can occur, often lasting for months or years. The main reason that Flakka is so dangerous is the unpredictability of its effects. The dosage is difficult to estimate, and even a small amount can lead to extreme behavior or health problems. In addition, the drug has a high addictive potential: psychological dependence can develop quickly.
In some cases, users completely lose touch with reality, which can lead to self-harm or violent confrontations. There are even reports of people who became aggressive in public in an unconscious state, leading to violent incidents. This behavior has contributed to Flakka’s fearsome image in the media. In the early years of Flakka’s appearance, the drug was difficult to regulate due to the legal gray area it found itself in. It was initially seen as a legal alternative drug, as it was not specifically included in the legislation. This made it easily available on the black market and via the Internet.
Flakka was sold as a “bath salt” (another synthetic drug), adding to the confusion and false belief that it was a harmless substance. Today, Flakka is banned in many countries, including the United States, the Netherlands, and Australia. However, it continues to circulate in some regions, especially in the form of new, hard-to-trace designer drugs. This creates ongoing problems for law enforcement agencies trying to stop the spread of this dangerous substance.
Flakka is sometimes confused with other synthetic drugs, such as MDPV (methylenedioxypyrovalerone), badesalts, or methamphetamine. All of these substances have stimulant effects, but Flakka stands out because of its particularly severe and unpredictable side effects. Flakka use can lead to self-destructive behavior or serious medical complications more quickly than other stimulants. The spread of Flakka also has implications for communities and families. Because of its unpredictable effects, it can undermine trust within families. Parents and caregivers often have serious concerns for the safety of their children, especially when there are reports of violent behavior by users. There are also concerns about the use of Flakka among young people, who may not fully understand the risks of using synthetic drugs.
In early July, the police arrested five men in Brabant who had made women dependent on flakka and then forced them to perform sexual acts. The arrested men are between 30 and 60 years old and come from Roosendaal and Bergen op Zoom. The police of the Zeeland-West-Brabant unit investigated the men with Belgian colleagues, which led to the arrests. During the investigation, the police also found the victims, mainly Belgian women in appalling conditions. According to the police, the use of flakka is “an increasing problem” in Roosendaal and the surrounding area. The drug is often used by homeless people in the region, which leads to many incidents and reports of nuisance.
Heroin
The UN agency for the investigation of drugs and crime (UNODC) has warned of a rise in overdoses among heroin users, due to the expected rise of synthetic drugs and opioids as opium production in Afghanistan has collapsed.
Ketamine
The drug Ketamine (K, keta, ket, Special K or vitamin K) is used as a pain reliever and as an anesthetic during surgery, both in humans and animals. When the anesthetic PCP (angel dust) turned out to have too many side effects, manufacturer Parke-Davis started looking for an alternative. This is how ketamine came into being. When used as an anesthetic, ketamine has side effects such as hallucinations. Because the medical use of ketamine is relatively safe compared to some other anesthetics, it is still used regularly. Research is being done into possible positive effects of ketamine on depression.
One of the two doctors suspected of supplying ketamine to the late Friends actor Matthew Perry has pleaded guilty in a Los Angeles court. The man could face up to 10 years in prison. Doctor Mark Chavez is the third person to confess to giving Perry ketamine. An assistant and an acquaintance of the actor previously admitted to helping him obtain the drug. A total of five people have been charged in the case. Another doctor and an alleged drug dealer known as “The Ketamine Queen of Los Angeles” have pleaded not guilty. According to the indictment, Perry is said to have first obtained the ketamine from the two doctors. When the ketamine became too expensive, he is said to have obtained the drug from “The Ketamine Queen.” According to prosecutors, the five suspects did not care about Perry’s health. Chavez’s sentence will be determined on April 2, 2025. The assistant and the acquaintance will hear their sentences sometime in the coming months. Streaming service Peacock will release a new documentary about his death on February 25, 2025. The documentary will cover the last days of his life and the investigation that followed his death. Perry died on October 28, 2023 from a ketamine overdose. Five people have been charged with involvement in the actor’s death. The doctor has pleaded guilty to four charges of illegally supplying ketamine. The American authorities report that California doctor Salvador Plasencia could face up to forty years in prison for his confession. A total of five people have been charged. A second doctor in the case, Mark Chavez, already confessed last October that he supplied drugs to Perry. According to the authorities, Plasencia bought ketamine from Chavez and sold it to the actor for large sums of money. An assistant and an acquaintance of Perry previously admitted that they helped him obtain the drug.
On April 2, 2025, customs arrested a Ukrainian driver near De Lutte, seizing three hundred kilos of ketamine. Customs officers were conducting a border check at the A1 when they pulled the man (41) over to the side of the road. The estimated street value of the drugs is eight million euros.
Kush
The term ‘kush’ is often associated with cannabis, but it is a synthetic cannabinoid. The cheap drug is often light green, dark green, brown or reddish in colour and is usually smoked with tobacco. According to users, the drugs are said to relieve stress or even ‘make all feelings disappear’. According to the research that Clingendael has now published, the stuff usually contains synthetic cannabinoids or nitazenes: a strong painkiller that is stronger than morphine, heroin and fentanyl. It makes kush extremely powerful. According to Clingendael, a lot of rumours about kush are also going around: for example, the drug is said to contain methamphetamine and human bones. No evidence has been found for this. The Netherlands and the United Kingdom are the main suppliers of kush, a deadly synthetic drug, in Sierra Leone. This is stated in a report by think tank Clingendael and Global Initiative, organisations that conduct research into organised crime. Kush is disrupting the West African country: young people walk the streets like zombies and some morgues are overcrowded. The drug is relatively new and dirt cheap. Kush contains synthetic cannabis and in half of the cases also so-called nitazenes, an extremely lethal painkiller that is dozens of times stronger than heroin. In April last year, President Julius Maada Bio declared a state of emergency: he speaks of a drug epidemic.
MDMA
MDMA production also generates significant amounts of chemical waste. It is estimated that between 1,155 and 3,191 tonnes of chemical drug waste were generated in the EU in 2021, which is typically dumped away from production sites, posing health risks, environmental damage and costly clean-up. The safety and environmental risks associated with MDMA production underscore the wider societal impacts of the market. Outside of the thriving EU drug market, lucrative markets in Oceania and Asia appear to be the main destinations for MDMA shipments from Europe, but there are signs that Latin America is becoming an increasingly important market – a shift that needs to be closely monitored. Traditionally, drug trafficking routes between Latin America and Europe have been dominated by cocaine exports. However, there are reports that these routes are also used to transport MDMA in the opposite direction.
In some cases, criminals in the EU and Latin America engage in barter trading, exchanging MDMA for cocaine, without any money involved. The supply of precursors and essential chemicals plays a key role in MDMA production, which is usually ensured by dedicated criminal networks linked to legitimate businesses. MDMA producers circumvent legal controls on the precursor used to make MDMA (PMK) by using alternative uncontrolled substances, mainly sourced from China and converted into PMK in Europe. Since 2013, more of these alternative chemicals have been seized in Europe than PMK, challenging the authorities’ efforts to control MDMA production in the EU. After consecutive years of rising levels of MDMA in ecstasy tablets (2011-2019), this trend appears to have reversed, with the average MDMA content falling from 170mg in 2019 to 144mg per tablet in 2022. However, potent tablets are still circulating.
Social media platforms and instant messaging apps have become particularly dynamic channels through which MDMA is sold to consumers. Mixtures of MDMA, ketamine and additional substances, sold as ’tucibi’ or ‘pink cocaine’, are also increasingly available.
Methamphetamine
These synthetic stimulants are a significant contributor to drug-related harm in many parts of the world. In Europe, with the exception of a few countries, methamphetamine is a relatively rarely used stimulant. A further problem is the continued evidence of production in Europe. While the number of dismantled methamphetamine production sites decreased slightly in 2022, these total numbers fluctuate from year to year as they largely reflect the large number of small-scale ‘kitchen laboratories’. The production of small quantities of methamphetamine for local consumption is a long-standing phenomenon in parts of Europe, such as the Czech Republic, where settled populations use the drug. Seizures of glycidic derivatives of BMK, a precursor used in large-scale methamphetamine production, increased significantly in 2022, while new alternative chemicals from which BMK can be made were also seized. In addition, large quantities of tartaric acid continued to be seized. Tartaric acid is used in the production of the potent and sought-after form of methamphetamine ( d -methamphetamine, used for ‘crystal meth’). Taken together, this information suggests that large-scale production of methamphetamine is now a reality in the European Union. At present, production on this scale appears to be mainly for export to non-EU markets. This is a concern in itself, but also carries the risk that use of this drug could become more common in the European Union if market conditions were to become favourable.
Nitazenopioids / protonitazene
These drugs are ten to fifty times more potent than fentanyl, the infamous painkiller that has led to an unprecedented drug crisis in the United States.has led to hundreds of thousands of overdose deaths. Nitazenes are extremely dangerous and are sold in preparations that mimic street heroin, or online as ‘synthetic heroin’, but there are also tablets that have been falsely sold as medicinal opioids or other medications. There have also been reports of smoking mixtures being adulterated with nitazenes. These drugs have been linked to a rise in drug-related deaths in Estonia and Latvia in 2023, where they now account for a significant proportion of overdose deaths. In the UK, 284 deaths have been linked to nitazenes since June last year, and localised poisoning outbreaks have also been reported in Ireland and France. In Ireland, nitazenes have been falsely sold as heroin, resulting in multiple overdoses, and have also been linked to overdoses in two prisons in 2024. Outside the European Union, nitazenes have been linked to drug overdoses in Australia, North America and the UK. These drugs do not currently feature prominently in routine data available at EU level. However, due to their high potency and novelty, there is concern that nitazenopioids may not be routinely detected in procedures commonly used for post-mortem toxicology. This raises the possibility that the number of deaths or non-fatal poisonings attributed to these substances is an underestimate. In 2021, ‘tranq-dope’, where synthetic opioids are mixed with the animal sedative and analgesic xylazine, and ‘benzo-dope’ in 2022, where synthetic opioids are mixed with new benzodiazepines (such as bromazolam) were on the rise. In the Netherlands, a large quantity of nitazenes was also found for the first time in March. Police found a thousand pills in a postal sorting facility near Delft. Initially, they appeared to be other painkillers, but investigation showed them to be nitazenes. In Europe, the drug has been appearing more and more frequently in recent years: according to the European Drug Agency (EUDA), 81 new nitazene variants were found between 2005 and 2023. The Dutch discovery involved protonitazene. The discovery initially appeared to involve the painkiller oxycodone. The pill was labelled with a different product. A user no longer knows exactly what he is taking, but then takes a whole pill, a hundred times stronger than heroin. That can have major consequences. Synthetic drugs such as fentanyl and nitazenes are much easier and cheaper to produce than herbal drugs, experts say. The package found in Delft was destined for the United States. The police are now investigating whether the pills were manufactured in the Netherlands or elsewhere.
Oxycodone
For drug criminals, it is attractive to sell nitazene as oxycodone. Oxycodone is derived from morphine and is a complicated substance to make. Nitazenes are simpler chemicals that are much easier to make. Drug dealers can make it cheaply themselves and you only need very little of it. Last year, the Dutch police found a large quantity of nitazenes for the first time. In March 2024, a thousand pills were found in a postal sorting company near Delft. Here too, it initially seemed to be the painkiller oxycodone. Research later showed otherwise. In other countries, nitazenes have been a problem for longer. In the United Kingdom, 284 deaths have been linked to nitazenes since June 2023. At least two Dutch people have recently been admitted to hospital with nitazene poisoning. They contracted the poisoning by taking a contaminated, illegal oxycodone pill. In two other patients who ended up in hospital with poisoning, it is still being investigated whether this was also due to exposure to nitazenes. In mid-March 2025, it was announced that a patient had died from poisoning via an oxycodone pill contaminated with nitazene. The Trimbos Institute and the Health and Youth Care Inspectorate (IGJ) subsequently warned of life-threatening counterfeit oxycodone pills. These painkillers did not contain oxycodone, but the potentially lethal synthetic substance isotonitazepyne, a nitazene. Nitazenes are many times stronger than morphine and fentanyl. According to Marcel Bouvy, professor of pharmaceutical patient care at Utrecht University, a very small amount of the substance can be fatal. “It is a substance that mimics the effect of oxycodone, but it works in a much lower concentration. You only need a pinpoint for it, while for oxycodone you need a knife point, so to speak.” Oxycodone is a strong painkiller. The drug is used for severe pain, such as after operations, an accident or cancer. It is also administered to people who are no longer getting better, as palliative care. Long-term use of oxycodone can lead to addiction. Patients are often prescribed oxycodone for a short period, but people can already have become addicted to it.
Pink Cocaine
Ketamine can also be added to other drug mixtures, including MDMA powders and tablets, potentially increasing the risk of accidental consumption. Mixtures marketed as ‘pink cocaine’ may also contain ketamine. This product appears in parts of the EU drug market, but has a longer history in Latin America, where it is often reported to contain the compound 2CB, reflected in its alternative street name ‘tucibi’. However, in Europe, a variety of synthetic substances, including ketamine and MDMA, have been found in this brightly coloured, distinctive product. In many ways, pink cocaine is an example of the more sophisticated marketing of synthetic substances to consumers who likely have very little understanding of the chemicals they are actually consuming.
Myanmar is a notable source of opium and heroin, but generally not for European markets. The heroin is smuggled to countries in Asia and Oceania
In the fatal shooting incident in Oosterhout on Friday afternoon, March 28, 2025, two people were killed; a third person was seriously injured. The victims were found at two locations. First, the police found two seriously injured men in a car on Loevensteinlaan, one of whom succumbed to his injuries. The fatal victims are a Turkish man with a Dutch passport and a Moroccan nicknamed Bandi (a well-known figure in the drug circuit). The seriously injured man is believed to be a cousin of Bandi. Officers had gone there because of multiple reports of a shooting. In Sint Antioniusstraat, a little further on, there was a collision between two other cars a few minutes later. A seriously injured man was in one of the cars, who died of his injuries on the street. The police initially thought that shots had also been fired on Sint Antoniusstraat, but investigation has shown that shots had only been fired on Loevensteinlaan. An investigation is underway to determine whether the second victim was involved in the shooting. The police are considering, among other things, the scenario that the two shot at each other. The motive for the shooting is a drug war. The police assume that there are still suspects on the run. During the investigation, the police found a vehicle in Teteringen that is related to the events. The car was confiscated and taken away. The rear window was broken. The atmosphere in the neighborhood was very restless for a while after the shooting and police dogs had to be deployed to disperse people. Officers with bulletproof vests were present in large numbers.
At the end of January 2024, Mayor Femke Halsema, at a conference on combating drug problems organized by her in the Beurs van Berlage, advocated the regulation of hard drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy with other international administrators. According to Halsema, the ‘ war on drugs ‘ is a dead end. Although many billions are being invested worldwide in the fight against drugs, Halsema is heading in the other direction because, according to her, the Netherlands is in danger of becoming a “narco-state” without a fundamental change of course. The Dutch police and customs intercept tens of thousands of kilos of cocaine and other drugs every year in Dutch ports and at airports. However, she does not want the complete legalization of hard drugs. For example, the substances should not be freely available and should remain prohibited for children. The police, the judiciary and the outgoing Minister of Justice Yesilgöz (VVD) have stated that they do not see any point in regulating drugs. The parties that are now discussing the formation of a new cabinet – PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB – are also more in favour of a more repressive than a more liberal drug policy. She herself sees an international movement emerging towards drug regulation – a “ coalition of the willing ”, as Halsema calls it. Since mid-December, trials with legally grown weed have been running in Breda and Tilburg. Nineteen coffee shops are participating in this experiment. They sell weed from three government-appointed growers. The intention is to expand the experiment to eight other municipalities and a district in Amsterdam after six months. The use of cannabis in various American states has actually increased due to the release and there has been an increase in the number of fatal traffic accidents in these states involving people under the influence.
Organised crime tries to abuse the floriculture sector and the people who work in it. For example, by using them to transport illegal substances such as drugs and weapons. This sector is attractive for criminal interference due to its international character and its intricate logistics. That is why, among others, the police, the Public Prosecution Service, the Tax and Customs Administration, Royal FloraHolland and the municipalities of Westland, Katwijk, Lisse and Aalsmeer work together to tackle undermining crime and abuses. The TFOC programme, part of the National Expertise and Operations Unit (LX) of the police, focuses on combating and preventing organised crime in the Dutch transport sector. For this reason, the programme ties in seamlessly with the objective of the Resilient Floriculture Sector programme.
On October 24, 2024, several European countries simultaneously conducted a police operation into hidden spaces. The operation was organized under the flag of EMPACT and supported by Europol. Representatives from various countries met in The Hague to share knowledge about hidden spaces directly with each other. At the same time, cars along European roads were searched for hidden spaces and motorists were questioned. In the Netherlands, operations were conducted on various highways throughout the country. These were conducted by the National Expertise and Operations unit, various regional police forces, customs and the Royal Military Police. In the Netherlands, a firearm, 110 kilos of cocaine and more than 23,000 euros were found. In a truck, customs and the Royal Military Police found bags containing 100 kilos of ketamine. The bags were hidden at the bottom of the truck. Motor scooters were also checked and a hidden space was also found in them.
In the port of Rotterdam, much less cocaine was intercepted in 2024 than in previous years: 26,000 kilos. In 2023, it was still 45,000 kilos. Much less cocaine was also intercepted in the port of Antwerp: 44,000 kilos, compared to 121,000 kilos in 2023. The decrease in drug smuggling is due to better security at the two largest seaports and the dismantling of a major drug organisation ( Aquino ). There are more cameras, intensive checks are carried out with drones and submarine robots, and all containers of cargo ships from high-risk countries in South America are checked. Corruption by port employees and drivers has been made more difficult, by stricter supervision of PIN codes of the containers delivered. The number of arrests of cocaine extractors has also decreased significantly. In 2024, this was 266, compared to 452 in 2023. Most of these were teenagers from Rotterdam-Zuid and Amsterdam-Zuidoost. The drug gangs that organize the transports from the production countries in Latin America have changed their routes to West Africa. They did this because of the stricter controls in Rotterdam and Antwerp, said chief Jan Janse of the Rotterdam Seaport Police at the press conference. The fact that the wanted drug lord Bolle Jos appears to be staying in Sierra Leone fits in with that pattern. Slightly more cocaine was intercepted in the port of Vlissingen last year than in 2023. The drug organizations may be moving to smaller ports in the Netherlands. More drug smuggling via German seaports is also expected. The fact that less cocaine is being smuggled in via Rotterdam is good news. Stricter measures and more intensive controls pay off. The decrease leads to less violence between drug gangs: they have been forced to change their area of operation. The demand for drugs is not decreasing, and the Netherlands remains a ’transshipment point’ for transit to other countries in Europe and Asia. According to the police and the judiciary, the cocaine networks are shifting their smuggling routes to ports in West Africa. From there, the drugs are smuggled to Europe via the Sahel countries or across the ocean. Within the Netherlands, the pressure will increase on smaller ports such as Vlissingen, Scheveningen, IJmuiden, Harlingen and Lauwersoog. Controls there are currently much less intensive. Criminals pay fishing vessels to bring drug packages dumped on the open sea to land.
Drug criminals are now also resorting to new smuggling methods, such as ‘washing’ cocaine into clothing, packaging materials and coal. Sharing knowledge by customs with countries in South America is leading to concrete results, said Director General Nanette van Schelven of the Dutch customs in De Telegraaf on Saturday 25 January. ‘In Latin America, several large drug shipments destined for the Netherlands have been intercepted in the past year. (…) By working together, helping and building trust, you see that the customs services there are increasingly willing and able to stop more drugs. According to chief public prosecutor Mariëtte Bode of Zeeland-West-Brabant, the decline in drug smuggling via Rotterdam is good news, but no reason to celebrate.
The Public Prosecution Service of Bruges wants to prosecute two prison directors for drug possession. An investigation was launched after a prisoner recognized one of the two directors at a drug party. In June 2024, SV (40) called a prisoner into her office in the Kortrijk prison after he had misbehaved. But to his own surprise, the prisoner recognized the director sitting in front of him. He had seen her at a party where drugs were openly used. This marked the start of a judicial investigation. Her ex-partner and former co-director JC (40), who worked for many years as a director in the Vorst prison and then went on to work as a regime director in Bruges, was also arrested in the summer of 2024. According to HLN, the two regularly used drugs together in their private lives. After the divorce, SV decided to no longer work in Bruges with JC and moved to Kortrijk. There she was recognized after just a week. The police then also raided the Bruges prison. On Wednesday, the two appeared in court in Bruges, where the Public Prosecution Service requested that they be referred to the criminal court. However, there will be no trial and they will not be punished. The Public Prosecution Service in Bruges filed an appeal. An internal investigation is also underway at the Prison Service.
VVD municipal councilor convicted of money laundering and drug-related crimes
Fatimzahra Chahim began her political career in 2018 as a member of the Eindhoven municipal council, representing the VVD. In the 2022 elections, she was ranked fourth on the VVD list. In 2023, she left the VVD faction after internal disagreements and continued as a one-woman faction, called Fractie Chahim. According to recent reports, she is currently absent from the council, possibly as a result of these legal proceedings.
Her personal life played a crucial role in the case. In 2019, she befriended Nabil N., a man who was in prison for drug possession at the time. She visited him in prison several times in 2020 and later claimed in court that she thought he was in prison for something “small” and that she considered him innocent. This relationship developed further after his release in 2020, which led to their joint involvement in criminal activities.
The court in Den Bosch found Chahim guilty of multiple drug offenses and money laundering, with a sentence of nine months in prison, of which six months suspended. Her ex-partner, Nabil N., was sentenced to six years in prison for his role in the trafficking and importation of cocaine, as well as money laundering.
The period of the offenses ran from May 2020 to January 2024. Investigation revealed that Chahim and Nabil N. spent significantly more than their legal income allowed, leading to suspicions of money laundering. Examples of this included renovating their home, purchasing jewelry and cars, and taking multiple vacations. Cryptophone messages from Nabil N. showed that he was actively involved in the cocaine trade via the port of Rotterdam, with activities continuing until at least March 2021.
Chahim’s role was active and direct: she was responsible for counting, hiding and preparing money on Nabil N.’s orders. Evidence, including a message in which she said “They should know” (they should know), indicated that she was fully aware of the criminal origin of the money. The judge took this particularly badly, given her positions as a municipal councilor and civil servant, which called her responsibility and integrity into question.
The Public Prosecution Service had initially demanded a six-month prison sentence for Chahim, but the judge ruled that a higher sentence was appropriate, given the seriousness of her involvement and her public position. The case was heard in Den Bosch, with reports published on April 9, 2025, as seen in Prison sentence for Eindhoven councilor who laundered drug money with partner in Eindhoven councilor gets prison sentence in drugs and money laundering case. The conviction followed an arrest in February 2024, when she was arrested on suspicion of money laundering, as reported by Eindhoven city councilor arrested on suspicion of money laundering.
According to the law, Chahim is allowed to keep her council seat despite the conviction, which is a point of discussion in local politics. Her absence from the council, as reported, could indicate internal measures or personal circumstances as a result of the case. This is consistent with the regulations as explained in Councillors with a criminal record are allowed, which states that someone with a criminal record can remain a councillor, as long as there is no specific disenfranchisement, which only happens in the case of certain serious crimes such as high treason, which does not apply here.
This case has led to a debate about integrity and responsibility in local politics, especially within the VVD, which is known for its liberal values and emphasis on the rule of law. The involvement of a councillor in criminal activities, such as money laundering and drug offences, has raised questions about the selection and monitoring of political candidates. Media such as Eindhoven councillor and partner suspected of money laundering: ‘Ben een stumper’ ([https://www.omroepbrabant.nl/nieuws/4663960/eindhovens-raadslid-en-partner-verdacht-van-witwassen-ben-een-stumper]) highlighted her statement in the court case, in which she called herself a “stumper”, illustrating her personal reflection.
Additionally, the case has attracted attention for its connection to international drug trafficking, with Nabil N.’s activities extending to the Dominican Republic, as previously reported in indictments.
Suspect (38) arrested in Breda for involvement in large-scale cocaine import
During multiple home raids in Breda on Tuesday 27 May, a 38-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of involvement in the import of more than 3,000 kilos of cocaine. The arrest took place in a home on the Noortberghmoeren, after officers had also searched several properties on the Langdonk earlier that day. The arrest is part of a major criminal investigation that has been ongoing for over a year. The police started the investigation after receiving signals about a criminal group that was involved in large-scale cocaine trafficking. According to the police, the group is said to have earned millions of euros from the import of the drugs. After the arrest in Breda, searches were carried out at another twelve locations in North Brabant. These involved six homes in Breda, four in Roosendaal, one in Hoeven and one in Etten-Leur. During these searches, data carriers, luxury watches, jewellery, several vehicles and more than 100,000 euros in cash were seized. The police do not rule out more arrests in the investigation. The investigation team is working with the Public Prosecution Service to further map out the criminal organization and the money flows involved.
