VZCZCXRO1927
RR RUEHAST
DE RUEHTC #1510/01 1881216
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 071216Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6262
INFO RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS 0338
RUEAWJB/DOJ WASHDC
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 1944
RUEABND/DEA HQS WASHDC
RHEHOND/DIR ONDCP WASHDC

06THEHAGUE1510

Embassy The Hague

UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

06STATE78495

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 THE HAGUE 001510 

SIPDIS 

SENSITIVE 

SIPDIS 

DEPT FOR INL/PC - LMCKECHNIE, INL/T 
DEPT ALSO FOR EUR/ERA, EUR/PGI, EUR/UBI 
ONDCP FOR CHARLOTTE SISSON 
DOJ FOR OIA 
USEU FOR WAGNER AND DOJ 
DEA HQS FOR OEE, OIE 

E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR KCRM PINS PREL NL
SUBJECT: NETHERLANDS: NARCOTICS CERTIFICATION UPDATE 

REF: A. STATE 78495 

¶B. THE HAGUE 814 
¶C. THE HAGUE 1415 

THE HAGUE 00001510 001.2 OF 003 


¶1. (U) Summary. In preparation for this year's interagency 
review for narcotics certification, Post submits the 
following update on Dutch anti-narcotics efforts and police- 
to-police cooperation. The Dutch remain focused on stemming 
the production and trade of ecstasy and are developing a 
second five year plan to deal with ecstasy. Police-to- 
police cooperation has continued to improve. End Summary. 

Recent Counter-Narcotics Developments 
------------------------------------- 

¶2. (SBU) According to an unpublished report by the Dutch 
National Crime Squad, Dutch police seized 1.85 million 
ecstasy (MDMA) tablets and 220 kilograms of MDMA powder in 
the Netherlands in 2005, a major decrease from the 5.6 
million tablets and 303 kilograms of powder seized in 2004. 
Dutch police estimate that 1 kilogram of powder can be used 
to produce 10,000 MDMA tablets. 

¶3. (U) Tom Driessen, head of the National Crime Squad told 
ONDCP Director John Walters during Walters' April visit to 
The Hague that the establishment of the National Crime 
Squad, which is responsible for the investigation of 
organized crime, in early 2004 had significantly improved 
the effectiveness of the Dutch police against international 
criminal groups involved in narcotics production and 
trafficking. He said this was due in large part to the 
enhanced ability of the police to cooperate with the U.S. 
and other international partners; effective cooperation had 
been more difficult previously, when investigation of 
serious crime was decentralized among 25 police regions. 
Driessen credited improved intelligence and investigations 
of money and trade flows for the Dutch ability to better 
combat ecstasy production and trade. He acknowledged that 
resource limitations continued to hamper their efforts to 
track and interdict illicit money flows. Walters commended 
the Dutch for their successful efforts to curb the ecstasy 
trade. 

¶4. (U) Encouraged by the success of the initial GONL five- 
year plan (2002-2006) to combat ecstasy production and 
distribution, the Justice Ministry is currently developing a 
follow-on five-year ecstasy plan. The interagency plan will 
also involve the Interior, Finance, Defense and Health 
ministries. A June 6 EUROPOL Organized Crime Threat 
Analysis identified the production and distribution of 
synthetic drugs by organized crime groups based in Belgium 
and the Netherlands as the top law enforcement priority for 
the Dutch. Justice Ministry officials welcomed the EUROPOL 
appraisal as helpful to their efforts to ensure that 
combating the ecstasy trade will remain a top law 
enforcement priority. 

Police-to-Police Cooperation 
----------------------------- 

¶5. (SBU) While Dutch judicial system and privacy 
restrictions continue to hamper direct police-to-police 
intelligence sharing in the absence of a formal Mutual Legal 
Assistance Treaty (MLAT) request, progress is being made on 
effective operational cooperation. As a result of the April 
2005 Next Steps bilateral law enforcement discussions, 
since October 2005 two DEA agents have been co-located 
with the National Crime Squad cocaine unit in The Hague, 
which specializes in South American and Caribbean narcotics 
investigation. Under the co-location arrangement, DEA 
agents have access to the unit's intelligence and tactical 
officers, and are able to pass and receive police-to-police 
information in an expeditious manner. Since the co-location 
began, joint investigations have led to the seizure of 
roughly 6,200 kilograms of cocaine and the arrest of 32 
defendants. DEA reached agreement in June 2006 to co-locate 
a third agent with the National Crime Squad's Helmond unit 
in the southern Netherlands. Co-location with the Helmond 

THE HAGUE 00001510 002.2 OF 003 


unit, which is expected to begin this summer, was a top 
objective of DEA because the Helmond unit specializes in 
ecstasy and precursor chemical investigations. 

¶6. (SBU) Since late 2005, Dutch police have also responded 
positively to DEA requests to conduct controlled deliveries 
without an MLAT request; previously, they had turned down 
all such informal requests. In the first six months of 
2006, the Dutch have conducted six controlled deliveries of 
cocaine at the request of DEA on a police-to-police basis. 
U.S. police conducted one controlled delivery of 3,700 
ecstasy tablets at the request of the Dutch. This was the 
only request presented by the Dutch in the past seven 
months, but illustrates their interest in expanding law 
enforcement cooperation. 

¶7. (SBU) DEA credits the ongoing successful information 
sharing between Dutch police and the El Paso Intelligence 
Center (EPIC) for improving police-to-police cooperation in 
the Netherlands. Over 6,000 names have been shared in the 
Schiphol Blacklist program in which EPIC and Dutch police 
share names of known or suspected drug traffickers for entry 
in the other's database. During a June 29 meeting to review 
the Blacklist program, DEA, Dutch police and Justice 
Ministry officials all agreed that drug trafficker data is 
flowing smoothly and that the program is working well. 

¶8. (SBU) Improved coordination between DEA The Hague and 
Dutch police has led to several recent major busts, 
including the seizure of 46 kilograms of cocaine at Schiphol 
airport on June 19, 2006. In the Schiphol case, the Dutch 
Royal Military Police (KMAR), which is responsible for 
border control, acted on a DEA tip to intercept two arriving 
couriers, who will be prosecuted in the Netherlands on 
charges of importation of a controlled substance. 

¶9. (SBU) On May 31 and June 1, 2006, the DEA office in The 
Hague, in conjunction with other DEA offices and the Royal 
Dutch National Police (KLPD) executed international arrest 
and search warrants against an international ecstasy trade 
and money laundering ring. Of the ten suspects arrested, 
eight will be prosecuted in the United States and two will 
be prosecuted in the Netherlands. The KLPD National Crime 
Squad unit in Helmond provided DEA with outstanding support 
throughout the two year investigation. 

¶10. (U) Dutch authorities attended a DEA-sponsored precursor 
chemical strategy conference in Hong Kong in February 2006 
and took part in DEA's International Drug Enforcement 
Conference (IDEC) in Montreal in May 2006. 

International Cooperation 
------------------------- 

¶11. (U) Bilateral cooperation on demand reduction research 
has continued in the past year, with scientific exchanges 
between the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and 
Development (ZonMW) and the Trimbos Institute and U.S. 
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). ONDCP Director 
Walters and Health Minister Hoogervorst agreed to consider 
expanding joint research to include studies on long-term 
drug consumption during Walters's April 2006 visit. 

¶12. (SBU) The Dutch Justice Ministry signed a MOU with the 
Chinese government to expedite the sharing of customs 
information and better track shipments of precursor 
chemicals in 2004. The Dutch continue to negotiate a MOU 
with the Chinese that would cover direct police-to-police 
operational cooperation in tracking precursor chemicals. 
Justice Ministry officials acknowledge that the negotiations 
are proceeding very slowly. The Dutch are also debating 
internally how extensive the MOU should be, due to concerns 
about entering into a broad cooperative police agreement 
with a country that has a poor human rights record. 

¶13. (U) The Dutch government hosted a conference on 
enhancing EU anti-drug cooperation in the Caribbean in 
February 2006. The GONL is pressing the European Commission 

THE HAGUE 00001510 003.2 OF 003 


and member states to increase their financial commitments to 
counter-narcotics efforts in the Caribbean region. 

Comment 
------- 

¶14. (U) The Dutch government has continued to make 
substantial progress in the last year against ecstasy 
production and trafficking. In particular, they are more 
effectively targeting international criminal organizations 
involved in the trade. Police-to-police cooperation and 
information sharing has also improved significantly; the 
recent agreement on the co-location of DEA agents in a 
second key National Crime Squad drug unit is expected to 
result in additional successful joint investigations. End 
Comment. 

ARNALL