National Threat Assessment 2008. Organised Crime - Politie

6.2 Criminal caravan camp residents
If an alert is supposed to identify something new, the involvement of caravan
camp residents in various forms of crime can hardly be called an alert. The Fijnaut
study group already provided information about the role of criminal caravan camp
residents as part of the Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry into Investigation
Methods (1996). The discussion of leading native Dutch criminal groups linked
caravan camp residents to drug trafficking, the illegal car trade, illegal gambling
and robberies. If – more than 10 years later – we read the recent investigation
reports, the involvement of criminal caravan camp residents is still striking. The
many different forms of crime and several specific aspects of the involvement are
enough to justify drawing attention to this group once again in this report.
The source material for this NTA shows that there are people from caravan camp
circles or whose roots are in those circles who are involved in ram raiding, cargo
theft, handling of stolen goods, car theft, domestic burglaries, the production
of and trafficking in synthetic drugs, cannabis growing, hashish trafficking,
cocaine trafficking, the illegal arms trade or the issuing of counterfeit money.
Ram raiding
Various offender groups residing in the Netherlands have been found to
be nationally involved in ram raids and lightning robberies at petrol stations,
businesses and shops in which a lot of violence is used. These offenders use cars
that are usually stolen via domestic burglaries. Two types of offender groups are
notable here. Apart from offender groups with mainly Eastern European origins,
there are offender groups with links to caravan camp circles.
Cargo theft and handling of stolen goods
Mainly native Dutch offender groups are involved in cargo theft. In research
dating back a couple of years, the binding factor in a number of groups was
found to be the members’ common caravan camp background. There was also
an alleged connection through the sale of the stolen goods. Some people cite
the presence of stolen goods handlers as one of the reasons for the large
number of cargo thefts. These mainly take place in the Brabant regions of
the Netherlands.
Car theft
A number of groups are allegedly involved above all in stripping and ringing
cars. One expert referred to a Dutch group that was rounded up in late 2005.
The members were capable of completely stripping a car within 90 minutes.
They operated as a well organised family business. The case involved around
218 National Threat Assessment 2008 – Organised crime