Netherlands: Kalsbeek report on corrupt police
01 May 1999
In 1994 the van Traa Dutch parliamentary commission investigated the methods used by Dutch police to combat organised crime. One of the revelations in the report was the "Delta-method" of police cooperation with criminal infiltrators in organised crime groups. Van Traa concluded that the police had lost control of their informants who used the police to assist them in smuggling 285 tons of soft drugs and 100 kilos of cocaine into Holland. As a result, parliament strengthened its control over police operational methods. In line with the van Traa commission, parliament prepared stricter laws on police infiltration, observation and registration of criminal organisations. It will also review police operational methods every four years.
In May a new Dutch parliamentary home affairs committee, chaired by Evelien van Kalsbeek, issued a report that is even more astonishing than the results of the van Traa investigation. The Committee discovered that the "Delta-method" was further out-of-control than van Traa had imagined with "parallel cocaine imports" running alongside soft drugs deliveries. Corrupt customs officers, civil servants and police assisted the smugglers, while the informants misled the police by only informing them of soft drugs deliveries. Possibly 15,000 kilos of cocaine was smuggled into the country in this way.
One criminal, reported to be heavily involved in organising the drugs shipments, is known as Mint K; he is a leader of one of the biggest Dutch criminal organisations. The Kalsbeek report claims that corrupt customs officials and police officers are involved in his organisation. Mint K is also under investigation in Belgium in a case involving a corrupt Belgian police-officer, Koen Veeckman, who was working at the Belgian international police-desk (SIRENE, Algemene Politiesteundienst). He was arrested in late 1997 after secret police files were found at a railway station. Veeckman had access to international Schengen information and ongoing investigations in Belgium. According to the Belgium prosecutor, Van der Sijpe, Veeckman was stealing "ultra-secret" information for Mint K. Parliament is asking for a debate to discover how much Justice Minister Korthals knew about the police operations and why he did not inform parliament.