National Threat Assessment 2008. Organised Crime - Politie

The presence of nurseries in residential areas puts the residents at risk.
There are many dependencies on the cannabis market and the balance between
these dependencies is easily disrupted. For example, many home growers
depend on grow shops that provided the (financial) resources to set up the
nursery. Violence among criminal organisations is increasing due to the fierce
competition on the market.
In terms of public health, there are vulnerable groups of youngsters whose
problems are exacerbated by excessive use of cannabis.
Other relevant developments include the increased level of professionalism of
the cultivation process, the large-scale export of Nederweed and the relatively
low threshold for taking part in home cultivation. Together with the expectation
that production will increase in the next few years, this makes producing, trading
in and smuggling Nederweed a threat for the next four years.
Nederhash
In terms of scale, Nederhash is a by-product of Nederweed production.
The availability of Nederhash on the Dutch market may be increasing, but
its market share is still small. Due to its relatively high price only a few users
consume Nederhash. Furthermore, production is so limited that it is hardly
exported. Nederhash therefore constitutes no specific threat to Dutch society
for the next four years.
Foreign hash
The study of the cannabis market did not yield enough current information
and knowledge about illegal exotic hash to assign a substantiated threat level.
The only indication is the evident transit function of the Netherlands with regard
to foreign hash. This alone is not enough to decide that foreign hash constitutes
a threat. This is why this criminal activity has been designated a blank spot.
2.6 Human trafficking 28
2.6.1 Introduction and scope
Human trafficking includes all actions and types of behaviour that are criminal
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This section is based on a report prepared in part for NTA 2008: Dienst Nationale Recherche
(DNR), 2008. Mensenhandel. Deelrapport Criminaliteitsbeeldanalyse 2007. Korps landelijke
politiediensten (Netherlands Police Agency), DNR (National Crime Squad), Driebergen
(confidential). The author of this report is F. van der Laan. The information from this report was
included with a view to qualifying the threat level of the criminal phenomenon. This qualification
and a summary of the arguments can be found in the final section.
chapter 2 – Illegal markets
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