On Tuesday, a huge police operation was held across 15 locations in Leeuwarden and Goutum in Friesland, leading to the arrest of four people.
Translation by Thomas Ansell
As reported in the Leeuwarder Courant, the police action was taken against individuals thought to be involved in laundering money from criminal activities. The police spent the entirety of Tuesday searching houses, sheds, and business premises. The series of raids began deep in the night, and was spread across the city.
More than 170 people from various organisations were involved in the police action. Aside from detectives and agents from the police, the team also involved workers from the FIOD (tax investigation service) and the public prosecution service.
The army was also deployed: a team specialising in detecting and finding hidden and underground rooms was despatched to Friesland. The team was assisted both by sniffer dogs and special equipment.
While drug busts at marijuana-growing facilities are a fairly common occurrence, in the last few years, Leeuwarden has decided to take stronger action against money laundering, and the subject has also become a political hot potato in that time. The best-known example of this action is “Operation Arville”, which resulted in millions of euros, expensive cars, and gold bars being found and confiscated.
The public prosecution found a link between this money and the illegal drugs trade, as is often the case with money laundering prosecutions. Several people involved were indicted for hiding criminal money. Findings related to Operation Arville are still the subject of legal proceedings.
