A business premises on Pesetaweg in Nieuw-Vennep, where the police raided a few weeks ago, appears to have been used as a bank building for the underworld. The FIOD has that announced. The property is said to have been the epicenter of a mega-money laundering operation, sending large amounts of money physically and digitally around the world.
On April 21, the armed police and tax investigation services raided a building on Pesetaweg. At the time, the FIOD only wanted to say that the raid was carried out because of a criminal investigation, it wrote Haarlems Dagblad.
It is now clear what kind of investigation was involved: the building would have been used by criminals to ‘deposit’ or ‘withdraw’ money, writes the FIOD. In other words, the building served as a bank for the underworld. A total of seven arrests were made around the raid.
Several anonymous sources confirm to NH that it concerns the NLExpress business premises (see photo above) on Pesetaweg. The investigative services would have been monitoring the building with cameras for months before the raid. NH has tried to contact the company, but calls have gone unanswered.
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In addition to the building on Pesetaweg, another business building in Nieuw-Vennep was searched. The FIOD does not want to say where that building is located. It is clear, however, that homes in Rotterdam, The Hague and Nieuwe Wetering were searched, the places where four of the seven arrested suspects come from. It concerns four men (37, 42, 54) and one woman (35). For three of them, the pre-trial detention has been extended by three months.
Half a million euros in cash was found in the building. From the building, tens of millions of euros obtained through drug trafficking are said to have been brought to Budapest by road, the FIOD writes. There it was presumably deposited in Hungarian bank accounts and transferred to accounts of criminals in China and Hong Kong. Part of the money was also laundered by buying cryptocurrency for it.
Czech arrested
Another suspect was already arrested on April 21. This happened after the Czech man had reported to the building during the raid, and the police had found a hidden space during an inspection of his car. At the request of Dutch colleagues, the Hungarian police also arrested a resident of Budapest on suspicion of underground banking.
In addition to the money laundering operation, he becomes, like the other suspects, of trading raw materials to make hard drugs. This is because 3,150 kilos of it have been found, as well as 21 kilos of MDMA, ready for consumption. Other items seized include a firearm, a money counting machine, cars with hidden spaces, luxury items, hard drives and (digital) administration.
Another find
During the raid in Nieuw-Vennep, the detectives also came across information that led to a building in Hoensbroek (Limburg). Another 6,300 kilograms of raw materials were found there. The manager of that building, a 35-year-old man, was also arrested.