Holland: Court criticises police

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Holland: Court criticises police
artdoc July=1993

When the Amsterdam police raided several flats in March 1992
winding up an extensive investigation code-named `Goofy' into a
Ghanaian drug smuggling ring, they claimed as many as 10,000
Ghanaian people lived in Amsterdam were illegal aliens, and
living at some 1,500 suspect addresses. However the police came
in for severe criticism on 27 April by the Court of Appeal. The
President of the court Mr H Steenbergen said the figures were
`incorrect and inappropriate' and that there was no evidence to
support the exaggerated figures in the dossiers. Mr Steenbergen
also
disapproved of the premature release of the police views of the
case: `It is unacceptable for the police after having arrested
fifteen suspects and still during the preliminary investigation,
to point an accusing finger at ten thousand people with a similar
ethnic background'. By divulging such oversimplified stories, Mr
Steenbergen said the police caused unfounded fears in the general
public. The three suspects were convicted to 10, 8 and 5 years
imprisonment respectively.

Statewatch vol 3 no 3 May-June 1993

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