Precisely in the city where Pablo Escobar could become the world’s most famous drug lord in the world, Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz (Justice and Security) unfolds the cabinet’s plans to prevent the Netherlands from having to deal with Escobars. The minister is in Medellín to learn from the Colombian approach.
From the cable car that serves as public transport in the metropolis, she overlooks the neighborhoods built with corrugated iron, where Escobar and members of his powerful ‘coke cartel’ used to rule the board for years. “Actually, it’s only recently that a lot of people were murdered here. The direction has now been taken back, which shows that you can regain ground.” Direction that she too would like to return, now that billions of euros are earned annually in the Netherlands from drug trafficking. According to the VVD minister, the Netherlands should not think that ruthless drug criminals can only be tackled harshly within their own national borders. It is precisely ‘source countries’ such as Colombia – where a large part of the cocaine traded worldwide is produced – that must play a crucial role in the fight against it.
key role
Part of the cooperation is that Colombian narco-agents will check in the port of Rotterdam, but the Netherlands itself also sends experts to countries that play a key role in smuggling. About ten ‘liaison officers’ are deployed in Latin America and the Caribbean to stop drug shipments before they reach the Netherlands in any way. “Colombians are putting people in Rotterdam and Antwerp, but we will soon also be putting people in Latin America.”
Networks must be dismantled by exchanging information. “We have a lot of expertise when it comes to tracking money flows. But they see it if someone goes on holiday to Colombia twelve times a year, we can deal with that much smarter together. We need to bring that information together.”
According to the Justice Minister, the fight against drug smuggling is a long one. “We have heard from experts that it no longer pays for criminals to smuggle through the Netherlands if you intercept more than twenty percent of the criminal trade.” According to Yeşilgöz, this should be achievable within five years with this offensive. “I think we should aim for that.”
During a visit to the high-security headquarters of the Colombian narcotics brigade DIRAN, Yeşilgöz is strengthened in her plans to stop seeing the fight against drug gangs as a national matter.
Like other experts the minister spoke to during her working visit, DIRAN Colonel José Roa sees a joint roll-up of international drug networks as the most promising option not to fail. “This is a battle of all countries, because it cannot be done alone.” The colonel of the elite service should know. In 2020, after intensive action, DIRAN arrested Saïd Razzouki, one of the main suspects in the Marengo liquidation process. He was then extradited to the Netherlands, thus taking the first step in a successful collaboration.
Dilan Yeşilgöz explores the streets of Medellín, where Pablo Escobar was able to build his empire.
In his control room full of giant computer screens, Roa shows Yeşilgöz that smuggling gangs don’t let national borders stop them either. “That’s why we want to identify networks together. What hits drug dealers the hardest is taking their trade or money; to do that we need to join forces.”
In the meantime, it is not only Colombia that has joined forces. An agreement was also concluded with Suriname last week to prevent the popular smuggling route from Paramaribo to the Netherlands from being used frequently. In addition, an extradition treaty has been signed with the United Arab Emirates, which means that leaders can no longer seek refuge there undisturbed.
Weakest link
Collaboration is not only sought after far from home. A European coalition with Belgium, France, Spain, Italy and Germany must prevent people from moving to a port a little further away. “Drug criminals will always look for the weakest link,” Yeşilgöz said. “So there will always be a struggle.”