Brabant and Zeeland have added a new police team: the seaport police. They will mainly be active in Moerdijk. The agents had officially started less than 24 hours before they already made a mega catch.
In a sea container, between the bananas, 1500 kilos of cocaine was hidden. Good for a street value of 110 million euros. It is the largest catch so far this year in the port of Vlissingen and immediately the first major catch for the brand new seaport police.
For the time being, it is a team of 25 police officers, including a group of detectives. Some will work in Moerdijk, the others will focus on the ports of Vlissingen, Borsele and Terneuzen. The goal is to grow the team.
Until now there was only a seaport police in Rotterdam. It is paid for with extra money from The Hague against undermining.
stowaways
Moerdijk is happy with the new team. Drug seizures seem to pass Moerdijk a bit. “Last year we had 102 climbers,” says Gijs-Jan Schüssler, harbor master of Moerdijk. Inklimmers are illegal immigrants who try to get to England via ships and sea containers.
The mayor of Moerdijk, Aart-Jan Moerkerke, nods. “In Zeeland it is more the import of cocaine. We mainly deal with human smuggling and environmental crimes in Moerdijk. The export of synthetic drugs is also a problem here. If you just look at the finds of drug waste, all those barrels, it sometimes seems as if Moerdijk has a central place in it. The drugs they make here also leave the country. But we don’t know much about it yet.”
Drones
The port of Moerdijk receives about 2,000 sea-going vessels and 11,500 inland vessels every year. It is the fourth seaport in the Netherlands. Port of Moerdijk, as it is officially called, has long been heavily secured, with automatic gates and dozens of cameras, its own fire brigade, a police boat and drones.
Now there is also a special police team. Four men strong in Moerdijk. To begin. They are supported by detectives and information experts. Customs is already there. “About thirty people”, according to the harbor master, just like the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee. “We also want a special municipal boa team for the port of Moerdijk,” says mayor Moerkerke.
Coke
The base of the seaport police is the training center of the Zeeland-West-Brabant unit, in the port of Borsele. Joost Manusama, the highest police chief in Zeeland, spoke of ‘major challenges’ during a short ceremony in Borsele on Tuesday.
According to him, this team is necessary because the approach is becoming more intensive in the ports of Antwerp and Ghent and there is a threat of displacement, the so-called ‘waterbed effect’. Looks like it’s already here. In Rotterdam, less coke was intercepted in 2022 for the first time in a long time. In Zeeland, catches are on the rise. Last week, the police caught nine ejectors and Wednesday 1500 kilos of coke was found.
Operation Portunus in 2020 exposed the problems. Corrupt employees in the ports and mountains of coke. The investigation became known for a fatal undercover operation.
“The strength lies in information exchange and the erection of barriers. But also in making the companies in the port and their employees more resilient,” says Manusama.
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