The municipality has closed three business premises in the city because of underground banking. These are buildings on Eerste van der Helststraat, Hoogoorddreef and Krugerplein.
The buildings housed a travel agency, a car rental company and a supermarket. A lot of cash, money counting machines and tokens were found with which large money transactions were regularly made.
The premises have been searched due to an ongoing police investigation into underground banking. The large sums of cash are believed to have come from drug trafficking.
“The presence of large cash amounts can give rise to armed robberies, rip deals, other forms of violence, extortion and arming those involved against such robberies. In order to immediately restore public order, the mayor has decided to close the premises” the municipality said.
The premises are closed for six months.