A 27-year-old man from Bergen op Zoom has been arrested because he approached an employee of the port of Rotterdam to remove cocaine from shiploads in the port of Vlissingen. A 41-year-old man without a permanent place of residence was also arrested for this in the port of Zeeland. The two are said to have seriously threatened the port employee. They may have been looking for part of a shipment of almost 3,300 kilos of cocaine that was intercepted in Vlissingen.
The man from Bergen op Zoom was arrested on Tuesday. This happened at Rotterdam Airport. The other suspect has been in custody since December 7 last year. During the investigation, several houses were searched in Bergen op Zoom and Vlissingen. Large amounts of cash and valuable goods were seized.
The case came to light after the Seaport Police received a report of a serious threat. She launched an investigation and the recruitment practices of the pair came to light. According to police, they were after part of a cocaine shipment that was seized last November.
After a tip, Customs found 3,279 kilos of cocaine in a batch of bananas in the port of Vlissingen-Oost. This batch of cocaine, which was divided into six pallets, was destroyed the same day.
Large amounts of money
The police speak of recruiters, because the suspects are engaged in ‘recruiting’ dock workers, among others, to help them with, for example, the import of cocaine.
When recruiting, large sums of money are offered or port employees are severely threatened or coerced. Young people are often used for overtaking.