Journalist Mick van Wely Fears Colombian and Mexican States

"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

The Europol and UN report shows that the Netherlands and Belgium are the main transit countries of cocaine. It is now also reflected in international studies: we have become a narco-state. "The problem is only getting bigger and bigger and bigger," says Telegraaf crime reporter Mick van Wely at 1 on 1.

"There are billions going around in this business. There comes a point when these criminal organizations are so powerful that you can't mean anything anymore," said crime reporter Mick van Wely, who has been closely following and reporting on criminals for the Telegraph since March 2015.

Now that Colombian and Mexican cartels are also coming to the Netherlands and smuggling their cocaine in here through the ports and further processing the drugs in empty farms, we are becoming an epicenter of narcotics trafficking. With all its consequences: undermining in municipal governments and violence that also takes place in residential neighborhoods.

Liquidations

"There have been two hundred liquidations in recent years that are coke-related. Think of the brother of the star witness (Nabil B.) and Peter R. de Vries," says Van Wely, who is gloomy about dealing with the spiral of violence we as a country have fallen into. "Before you can really strike back, you are at least ten years down the road."

"In the 50 years of fighting drugs, the availability of narcotics has only expanded. Also, the crime associated with it has only increased." Van Wely paints a pitch-black picture for the future because "there is really no solution."

Van Wely explains the worrisome downward spiral: "More users means more smuggling. More smuggling means more availability. More availability means it becomes cheaper again, and that, in turn, gives you more users."

The Netherlands no longer underperforms

According to the crime journalist, there are around a hundred organizations in the Netherlands involved in cocaine trafficking. "Dutch criminals play a leading role at the very highest level. The Netherlands is no longer inferior to the 'ndrangheta and the mafia."

How that comes about is not easy to explain, but Van Wely thinks that the major ports near Antwerp and Rotterdam act as a funnel for coke smuggling. Already there at those ports, corruption is rife. "In the past year alone, around 150 people have been arrested who have performed manual labor for the criminal organizations. These are crane operators, but also security guards. Entire companies are even being set up to facilitate these criminal organizations."

Mexicans and Colombians

A new development is that in addition to smuggling the product cocaine, people from South and Central America are also coming along. "Earlier, those cartels threw that coke over the fence here, and it was further distributed here. Now, they also make sure that the chemical process of producing the cocaine is done here in laboratories. Then you don't grab the 2,000 euros per kilo, but the retail value of 25,000 euros per kilo."

Those people come in via Spain, van Wely says, and are transported here via trucks to set up those labs here and help in the process of processing the drugs. "Then they crawl back into their holes in Spain where they don't stand out because of the language."

Government approach

With the increase in drug activity, rock-bottom murderous violence is also on the rise. The government has indicated it will come up with an additional €400 million to fight crime. But according to Van Wely, that is "just enough to fill the holes" and is still only a quarter of the amount really needed to resist the growing drug smuggling and production.

You have to invest, look ahead, and keep the criminals on their toes, he believes. "Catch them for traffic violations if necessary, so you also send a signal to society that you can't get away with this."

NPO Radio 1