Six men and a woman from Emmen, Emmer-Compascuum and Groningen have been sentenced to prison terms of more than five years. The cannabis gang was rounded up during a day of action on February 7, 2022. Officers found large amounts of cash, cannabis and several firearms and ammunition at various locations.
Anonymous reports from the Netherlands and Germany caused the police to start the Mergel investigation. A 46-year-old Groninger of Albanian descent came into the picture. The man had managed the Greenland grow shop in Emmen since 2011. There, officers found 309 kilos of hemp, gold bracelets, gemstones and a yellow vacuum cleaner containing 85,000 euros in cash.
There were five production locations in Weiteveen, Oostwolde, Molbergen, Schwanewede and Hamburg. Some of those farms had more than 1,400 hemp plants. The location in Schwanewede would generate revenues of 1.6 million euros. The evidence can be obtained from camera images, tapped conversations and telephone data with encrypted chat messages.
DNA from several suspects was also found during the investigation. The judge spoke of an extensive and professional cannabis trade. A 34-year-old Emmen resident was given the highest sentence for cannabis trafficking. He also had 61 kilos of amphetamine in his possession. The Groninger with the grow shop in Emmen was sentenced to 30 months in prison and must pay back most of it: more than one million euros.
One of the convicts is a 46-year-old woman from Emmer-Compascuum. A driver’s license left behind by the woman in the nursery in Hamburg betrayed her involvement. A black suitcase with 45,000 euros in cash and jewelry was found with her. Her 54-year-old boyfriend and co-suspect had a sports bag with automatic weapons, including a machine gun and ammunition.
The woman received a prison sentence of more than 17 months, of which 12 months was conditionally imposed, and a community service of 240 hours. Her boyfriend has been sentenced to more than three years, of which six months are conditional. The woman has to pay back almost 55,000 euros and her boyfriend almost four thousand euros. Others were given prison sentences of 1.5 to 4 years and must repay up to 800,000 euros.
The investigation file consists of approximately seven thousand pages. The research falls under the Newton project, which consists of several intervention teams that focus on tackling drug crime and undermining in the Northern Netherlands. The team works closely with the German police.