The HARP, Hit and Run Post team, seized over 90 kilograms of hard drugs in a year. The team has been combating criminals who send drugs by mail to foreign countries for a year. Six suspects stood trial last year. They received long prison sentences from the judge.
The goal of the HARP team is to detect and prosecute criminals who send drugs by mail to foreign countries. For a year, the team - a collaboration of Customs, Police, and the Public Prosecution Service - has been operational as one team.
Suspects
Last year, the HARP initiated 25 investigations and has since arrested 16 suspects. Six suspects were sentenced to long prison terms by the court. The cases of the other suspects will soon be heard. These are suspects who have mailed one or more packages of drugs.
Suspects are an essential link in the international drug chain and contribute to maintaining this chain of criminal undermining activities, said the Public Prosecution Service.
In 2024, Customs intercepted over 13,700 letters and packages containing narcotics, compared to 16,500 in 2023. In most cases, these involved synthetic drugs, such as ecstasy/MDMA and amphetamine. The decrease in the number of intercepted packages is likely due to criminals shifting to other countries, such as Belgium, Germany, and France, because the risk of being caught in the Netherlands has increased due to the arrival of the HARP team, said Customs.
Teddy Bear
The HARP has seen how criminals have used various objects to secretly hide their drugs over the past year. For example, hidden among cat food, incorporated into a Buddha statue, or ecstasy pills in a bag of snacks. The most recent example is a case where a large amount of Crystal Meth was found hidden in a package containing a teddy bear and a scarf. In this case, a 36-year-old man from Rotterdam was arrested on Tuesday, July 29. The man was presented to the court on Friday, August 1, and remains in custody for another fourteen days.