The Netherlands Drug Situation 2010 - Trimbos-instituut

The Public Administration Probity Screening Act (Wet BIBOB) gives local administratorsthe power to screen all kinds of new licence requests. The actual screening is conductedby a special central BIBOB-office. This office has access to secured sources such as thepolice files and the Tax and Customs Administration. The BIBOB office not only inspectsthe antecedents of the applicant, but also checks his or her immediate environment. Thismay result in a recommendation about the degree of risk. Dutch administrative authoritiesmay refuse contracts, subsidies or permits for organisations and companies if theyhave serious doubts about the integrity of the applicant. In its most recent annual report,with data of the year 2009, the BIBOB-office writes that nine per cent of the requests isabout coffee shops (Bureau BIBOB 2010).Combating organised crime in the NetherlandsPeriodically the National Crime Squad publishes an analysis of the most important activitiesof organised crime in the Netherlands. In 2009 it was decided to perform such a thoroughanalysis every four years instead of every two years. In 2009 only a global impressionof the information of the police on organised crime was published (KLPD-Dienst NationaleRecherche, 2010).In the special attention area of the Organised Cannabis Cultivation, the National CrimeSquad confirms the impression that grow shops have a key role in cannabis cultivation.The Dutch cannabis crime entrepreneurs are expanding to Belgium and Germany. Thepolice didn't gain much insight into the export of Dutch cannabis. The National CrimeSquad detected a decrease in the supply of the precursor PMK in 2008. The manufacturersof MDMA switched to the pre-precursor safrol in order to be able in a more complicatedway to produce ecstasy pills. The Netherlands are still the heroin hub of WesternEurope. Most heroin is imported from Turkey by Turks born in the Netherlands. Thesmuggling of cocaine to Europe is a ponderous business. West-Africa is still the internationalhub for cocaine smuggling (KLPD- Dienst Nationale Recherche, 2010).Intensified actions against ecstasyOrganised crime with regards to synthetic drugs remains a priority area for the police andthe Public Prosecutor for 2008-2012 (T.K.29911-17). In 2008, 21 production locationswere dismantled. The National Dismantling Facility reports that there has been an increasein the number of MDMA production facilities in 2009 with 55%. The size and professionalismof the facilities was in line with the trend in 2008 (Editors NND, 2010a). Seealso chapter 9 and 10.Combating cocaine trafficking at Schiphol AirportThe investigation and enforcement of trafficking of cocaine remains a priority in combatingorganised crime from 2008 to 2012. An important target of the policy is to improveinternational collaboration within the European Union (T.K.29911-17).The 100%-controls of the passengers of all flights from the Netherlands Antilles, Aruba,Surinam, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic were continued in thereporting year. The number of cocaine pellet swallowers at Schiphol airport appears to bestabilizing. In 2009, 710 swallowers were caught, which is a decrease of eleven on thefigures for 2008. Drugs were more often found in the luggage of drug couriers. Last year,this amounted to a total of 557 kilograms (Editors NND, 2010b). See also chapter 10.22