Justice ministers from six Western European countries pledged on Friday to make security at ports and other points of entry a top priority.
Dutch Justice Minister Dylan Jesilgos Zegerius said after an anti-crime ministerial meeting in Amsterdam that government security officials should step up ties with their Latin American partners to stop organized crime, especially cocaine trafficking. also agreed.
“We have agreed to create a platform where we plan to share more information between us, especially aimed at protecting our ports and airports. I did,” she told journalists.
“These include important ports such as Antwerp, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Hamburg,” said Yesilgoz-Zegerius.
While doing more to screen containers and uncover financial flows attributed to organized crime, the Dutch minister said countries should work closer together to make it easier to track vessel movements, for example. He said he would cooperate.
Internationally, Western European countries are also strengthening cooperation with Latin American countries, including Colombia and Peru. Colombia and Peru are the two major suppliers of the cocaine trade.
Ministers, along with Bogota and Lima, have agreed to set up a dedicated task force to tackle the sources of cocaine trafficking, Yesilgoz-Zegerius said.
Friday’s meeting in the Dutch capital is the second meeting between ministers since last December to discuss the growing drug wave in Europe. The group will meet in Antwerp next year to report on progress.
Germany and Italy are the latest in a coalition that includes Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Spain.
An EU report in May said record levels of cocaine and methamphetamine trafficking have sparked violence across the continent and the market is growing.
Europol and the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA.
The Netherlands has seen some high-profile deaths linked to cocaine gangs across the country, particularly in Amsterdam.
This included the country’s most famous crime reporter Peter R. de Vries, who was shot in the streets of the Dutch capital last July.
Prosecutors say his assassination is linked to his role in the trial of the Dutch drug mafia kingpin.
https://www.expatica.com/nl/general/western-europe-to-target-ports-in-new-crime-fight-plan-344666/ Western Europe Targets Ports With New Crime Fighting Plan – An Expat Guide To The Netherlands