Reporter Saskia Belleman is present at the case in Amsterdam. Follow her live report at the bottom of this post.
This became apparent on Tuesday during the criminal case against four Amsterdam taxi drivers who, in an organized context, charged customers far too high for taxi rides at and from Schiphol in mid-2017.
Customers from countries including Sweden, Japan and China who refused to pay or did not have enough money with them were allegedly threatened and sometimes robbed. The main charges are fraud, violent theft and participation in a criminal organization.
The court starts with the case of a Swedish tourist who wanted to go from Schiphol to the Campanile hotel in Amsterdam in February 2017. He was approached at Schiphol by Tarik K., who took him to a taxi that already had 2 men in it. Once at the hotel, the taxi driver wanted 595 euros for a ride that should have cost 64 euros at most. The Swede didn’t have that. Tarik K. took 300 euros from his wallet, and the Swede’s bank card. The men in the taxi forced him to go to an ATM, and also stole his camera, the Swede later told police.
The tourist was terrified, he told police. “I was really panicked. I thought the whole time they were going to hurt me.” Tarik K. says he has not noticed any panic. “I do have some human knowledge, I would have noticed that.”