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Is the Netherlands becoming a narco-state? By Anna Holligan
Posted on: December 21, 2019 at 15:00:04 CT
JeffB MU
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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50821542
"We definitely have the characteristics of a narco-state," confides Jan Struijs, chairman of the biggest Dutch police union.
"Sure we're not Mexico. We don't have 14,400 murders. But if you look at the infrastructure, the big money earned by organised crime, the parallel economy. Yes, we have a narco-state."
His words echo in a society that has been convulsed by a murder that went far beyond the bubble of the criminal underworld.
The deadly shooting of Derk Wiersum destroyed a common misconception here: that drug cartels only kill their own. A 44-year-old father of two, he was shot dead in front of his wife outside their home in Amsterdam in September.
'This is meant to frighten us'
Wiersum was the lawyer for a crown prosecution witness, Nabil B, who had turned supergrass in a case against two of the Netherlands' most wanted suspects.
The shooting in broad daylight in quiet suburbia was seen as an attack on civil society, democracy and the rule of law.
"This is meant to frighten us," warned public prosecutor Fred Westerbeke. "We must continue to use key witnesses otherwise we will get no further."
Suddenly, the fears of a drug users' paradise turning into a haven for drug crime and an economy undermined by it had burst into the open.
Shock at murder of Dutch lawyer in gangster case
"A few incidents over the last few years were like a sign on the wall," explains Wouter Laumans whose bestseller, Mocro Mafia, is a story charting the rise of a new generation of criminals in Amsterdam.
"The signs were there that it could flow over from the underworld to the upper world, and now that has happened."
Laumans lists a series of incidents as evidence of the escalating brutality:
Two young boys killed in Kalashnikov shootout with bullets ricocheting off walls
A mother murdered in front of her children
A severed head outside a coffee shop
The murder of a crown witness's brother, Reduan B
The murder of lawyer Derk Wiersum.
Organised crime 'rotting society'
Even before Wiersum's murder, a report commissioned by the mayor of Amsterdam in August described the capital as a "Valhalla for drugs criminals".
The Netherlands wasn't yet a narco-state but was in danger of becoming one, warned Justice Minister Ferd Grapperhaus.
Without firm intervention, he said, "you'll get a minister standing here in dark glasses, rather that someone simply giving democratic accountability".
"We knew it was coming," Jan Struijs told me. "Lawyers, mayors, police officers - we've all been threatened by organised crime. All the alarms have been sounding but the politicians have been naive. Now it's rotting the concrete of our society."
A few days later another Dutch lawyer, Philippe Schol, was shot in the leg in a drive-by shooting, while out walking his dog near his home across the border in Germany.
One opinion poll suggested 59% of people believed the Netherlands was now a narco-state, in other words a country whose economy is dependent on the trade in illegal drugs.
It strikes me as ironic that in a bureaucratic nation that sends you a dog tax reminder or fine for an overdue parking payment in a flash, gangsters remain at large and gangland shootings erupt on a regular basis....
...The Netherlands has in a sense created the perfect environment for the drugs trade to flourish.
With its extensive transport network, its lenient drug laws and penalties, and its proximity to a number of lucrative markets, it is an obvious hub for the global narcotics flow...
Renowned writer Roberto Saviano, who chronicled the organised crime world of the Naples Camorra network, believes mafia influence in Amsterdam is even worse.
"There are clans from all over the world, because the Netherlands is one of the most important transit ports. They know whoever controls the Netherlands has one of the arteries of the global drug market," he told the Volkskrant newspaper.
Billions and billions of euros are earned on the black market. Synthetic drugs with a street value of €18.9bn (£16bn; $22bn) were produced in the Netherlands in 2017.
Soft drugs have been imported from Colombia and North Africa for 30 years. Today a significant portion of synthetic drugs - MDMA, LSD, amphetamines, GHB and crystal meth - are produced in the Netherlands. In fact the country is considered a world leader. ...
"We definitely have the characteristics of a narco-state," confides Jan Struijs, chairman of the biggest Dutch police union.
"Sure we're not Mexico. We don't have 14,400 murders. But if you look at the infrastructure, the big money earned by organised crime, the parallel economy. Yes, we have a narco-state."
His words echo in a society that has been convulsed by a murder that went far beyond the bubble of the criminal underworld.
The deadly shooting of Derk Wiersum destroyed a common misconception here: that drug cartels only kill their own. A 44-year-old father of two, he was shot dead in front of his wife outside their home in Amsterdam in September.
'This is meant to frighten us'
Wiersum was the lawyer for a crown prosecution witness, Nabil B, who had turned supergrass in a case against two of the Netherlands' most wanted suspects.
The shooting in broad daylight in quiet suburbia was seen as an attack on civil society, democracy and the rule of law.
"This is meant to frighten us," warned public prosecutor Fred Westerbeke. "We must continue to use key witnesses otherwise we will get no further."
Suddenly, the fears of a drug users' paradise turning into a haven for drug crime and an economy undermined by it had burst into the open.
Shock at murder of Dutch lawyer in gangster case
"A few incidents over the last few years were like a sign on the wall," explains Wouter Laumans whose bestseller, Mocro Mafia, is a story charting the rise of a new generation of criminals in Amsterdam.
"The signs were there that it could flow over from the underworld to the upper world, and now that has happened."
Laumans lists a series of incidents as evidence of the escalating brutality:
Two young boys killed in Kalashnikov shootout with bullets ricocheting off walls
A mother murdered in front of her children
A severed head outside a coffee shop
The murder of a crown witness's brother, Reduan B
The murder of lawyer Derk Wiersum.
Organised crime 'rotting society'
Even before Wiersum's murder, a report commissioned by the mayor of Amsterdam in August described the capital as a "Valhalla for drugs criminals".
The Netherlands wasn't yet a narco-state but was in danger of becoming one, warned Justice Minister Ferd Grapperhaus.
Without firm intervention, he said, "you'll get a minister standing here in dark glasses, rather that someone simply giving democratic accountability".
"We knew it was coming," Jan Struijs told me. "Lawyers, mayors, police officers - we've all been threatened by organised crime. All the alarms have been sounding but the politicians have been naive. Now it's rotting the concrete of our society."
A few days later another Dutch lawyer, Philippe Schol, was shot in the leg in a drive-by shooting, while out walking his dog near his home across the border in Germany.
One opinion poll suggested 59% of people believed the Netherlands was now a narco-state, in other words a country whose economy is dependent on the trade in illegal drugs.
It strikes me as ironic that in a bureaucratic nation that sends you a dog tax reminder or fine for an overdue parking payment in a flash, gangsters remain at large and gangland shootings erupt on a regular basis....
...The Netherlands has in a sense created the perfect environment for the drugs trade to flourish.
With its extensive transport network, its lenient drug laws and penalties, and its proximity to a number of lucrative markets, it is an obvious hub for the global narcotics flow...
Renowned writer Roberto Saviano, who chronicled the organised crime world of the Naples Camorra network, believes mafia influence in Amsterdam is even worse.
"There are clans from all over the world, because the Netherlands is one of the most important transit ports. They know whoever controls the Netherlands has one of the arteries of the global drug market," he told the Volkskrant newspaper.
Billions and billions of euros are earned on the black market. Synthetic drugs with a street value of €18.9bn (£16bn; $22bn) were produced in the Netherlands in 2017.
Soft drugs have been imported from Colombia and North Africa for 30 years. Today a significant portion of synthetic drugs - MDMA, LSD, amphetamines, GHB and crystal meth - are produced in the Netherlands. In fact the country is considered a world leader. ...
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Is the Netherlands becoming a narco-state? By Anna Holligan - JeffB MU - 12/21 15:00:04