From hashish and heroin to cocaine, contract killings and international drug networks: how the Netherlands grew over fifty years into a crucial link in the European drugs industry.
They are images one would expect from Latin America rather than a Dutch village: heavily armed men storming a farm, shots ringing out through the night, a security guard losing his life and two police officers being seriously injured.
“Surely this does not happen in the Netherlands?” That is the question reverberating across the country after the explosion of violence in Overasselt. Police sources themselves are already speaking of “Mexican conditions” and a “drug war”, in a village in Gelderland where no one thought this possible.
Yet Overasselt is not an isolated case. The incident is linked to a history stretching back more than fifty years. During that period, the Netherlands changed from a country with local smuggling networks into a major hub in the international drugs market.
The Netherlands: not a narco-state, but a hub
Calling the Netherlands Europe’s largest drug transit country would be too simplistic. The Netherlands, Belgium and Spain are among the main entry points for cocaine in Europe.
The Netherlands does, however, have a unique combination of factors. The country has one of the world’s largest ports, a dense logistics network, international connections and a substantial chemical industry. It also has decades of experience in drug trafficking and drug production.
The Dutch police describe the Netherlands as a crucial hub of the global drugs market. Drugs are imported, stored, processed, produced and further distributed there. This makes the Netherlands more than merely a transit country. It is a link in a global illegal economy.
The night in Overasselt
In that context, the night in Overasselt takes on added significance.
A group of dozens of men heads to a house. Firearms are present. When police arrive, shots are fired. Two officers are seriously injured. The 51-year-old security guard Berry is killed.
Ultimately, 32 suspects are arraigned. The Public Prosecution Service suspects them of having been involved as a group in the murder or manslaughter of Berry. They are also suspected of attempted murder of two police officers and of preparing, among other things, murder, hostage-taking and unlawful deprivation of liberty.
The group has a notably international composition, consisting of sixteen French nationals, eleven Dutch nationals, two Algerians, a Libyan, a Ukrainian and a Belgian. Two suspects are minors.
A possible motive is being sought in a conflict over a large shipment of cocaine. In a threatening video, a person from Overasselt is accused of the disappearance of about 1,283 kilos of cocaine. The video is under investigation. It has not yet been established that the allegations are correct or that this was the motive for the attack.
That distinction is important. The suspects have not been convicted. The investigation must determine exactly what happened. However, the possible cocaine trail fits a known pattern. Large drug shipments represent enormous sums of money. Conflicts over money, debts, losses and betrayal can lead to extreme violence.
It began with hashish and heroin
Dutch drug-related crime today did not emerge overnight. In the 1970s, an underworld developed in the Netherlands around hashish, cannabis and heroin. Amsterdam in particular became a centre of the international hashish trade.
The networks were smaller then than they are now. Yet an important foundation was already laid, consisting of foreign contacts, smuggling routes and ways to launder illegally obtained money.
In the 1980s, the trade became increasingly professional. Criminals invested their proceeds in the hospitality sector, real estate and businesses. As a result, the line between the legal and illegal economies became less clear.
The Netherlands also had a major advantage for international smugglers: excellent infrastructure with ports, airports, roads and transport companies. What was good for the Dutch economy also proved useful to criminals.
The market changed in the 1990s. Cocaine became increasingly important in Europe. Production took place mainly in South America, while the market was thousands of kilometres away.
The Netherlands had a favourable location. The Port of Rotterdam provided access to a vast European distribution network. Antwerp also became an important entry point. This created an international chain:
South America → European ports → distribution networks → European cities
The Netherlands became an important link in that chain. However, it did not stop at transit. The country also developed into a major production area for synthetic drugs, including MDMA and amphetamine.
From smuggling to a criminal industry
Large-scale drug trafficking requires more than just a supplier and a buyer. Transporters, storage locations, financial flows, contacts and means of communication are needed. People with access to logistics systems are also required.
This led to specialisation. Not everyone within a network does the same thing. Some arrange transport. Others finance shipments or launder money. Still others engage in violence.
The Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek- en Datacentrum (WODC, Scientific Research and Data Centre) describes organised crime as increasingly flexible and international. Networks adapt when police and judicial authorities change their methods. This partly explains why the problem is so persistent. When one network is tackled, that does not automatically mean the end of the market.
Those who can lose millions have a major interest in protecting their trade. A missing shipment can lead to a conflict. An unpaid debt can result in a threat. Betrayal can become life-threatening.
From the 1990s onwards, contract killings became increasingly visible within the criminal milieu. The Netherlands acquired an underworld in which people not only traded, but also settled scores. The murder of Klaas Bruinsma in 1991 became an important symbol of that earlier period.
After that, power shifted between different networks. There was never a single central mafia. These were groups that sometimes cooperated and sometimes stood opposed to one another.
Since the 2010s, violence has become increasingly visible. The media use the term ‘Mocro-maffia’ for part of the newer criminal networks. However, the term also conceals something. There is no organisation by that name controlling the entire Dutch drugs market.
The reality is more international. Dutch, Belgian, French and other criminal networks can cooperate with one another. Their contacts extend across different countries. Moreover, violence increasingly affects people around the underworld.
In 2016, crime reporter Martin Kok was murdered. In 2018, the brother of crown witness Nabil B. was killed. A year later, lawyer Derk Wiersum was murdered. This shifted the threat. It was no longer only criminals fighting each other. Family members, journalists and lawyers could also become victims.
The digital underworld
At the same time, the way criminals communicated changed. Encrypted phones were meant to keep conversations beyond the reach of police and judicial authorities. The dismantling of communication platforms such as EncroChat changed that.
Investigative services gained insight into conversations about drug trafficking, weapons and violence. The messages once again showed how professional and international the networks had become.
Here, too, however, the same pattern applies. Developments in recent years have not simply followed a straight upward line. The number of contract killings declined, while the number of bomb attacks and other forms of intimidation increased.
Police identified that shift in their investigation into violence within organised crime. The form therefore changes, but the aim may remain the same: to intimidate competitors, collect debts or spread fear.
The EUDA reported that a record amount of approximately 419 tonnes of cocaine was seized in the European Union in 2023. Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands reported the largest quantities.
Those figures do not mean that all these drugs were intended for the countries concerned. They do show how important those countries are within the European cocaine trade.
The Netherlands has a unique position in this regard. The country combines imports, transit, distribution and production with strong logistics infrastructure. The Port of Rotterdam is a major driver of the Dutch economy, but its size makes monitoring complicated.
Enormous quantities of goods pass through the port every year. Criminals try to misuse these legal flows of goods for illegal trade. This sometimes requires people with access to terminals, systems or logistics processes.
This is how the underworld tries to embed itself in the legitimate world. Not by taking over the legal economy entirely, but by making use of it. This makes organised crime difficult to detect.
From Rotterdam to Overasselt
This brings us back to the night in Overasselt: a possible international cocaine conflict, a group of suspects from different countries, heavy weapons, a dead security guard and two seriously injured police officers.
It is still too early to state conclusively that this was a ‘drug war’. The investigation must establish the motive. The court must also determine what role each suspect played.
However, the case does show how close international crime can come to ordinary society. It is no longer self-evident that such violence takes place solely in the well-known hotspots of major cities. A village in Gelderland can also become the scene.
Fifty years of change
In half a century, Dutch drug-related crime has changed profoundly.
From hashish to heroin. From heroin to cocaine. From local smuggling to international logistics. From individual traders to specialised networks. From cash to complex financial structures. From physical meetings to encrypted communication.
And from classic contract killings to a broader spectrum of intimidation and explosive violence.
The government is trying to tackle the infrastructure behind the drug economy. However, the WODC describes a continuing game of cat and mouse. Criminal organisations adapt as soon as a route, method or network is targeted.
Charles Muller
