On Sunday, August 17, 2025, at nine in the evening, the police received a report from ANPR. A car on the A58 near Etten-Leur may be involved in drug trafficking. The officers decide to drive in the same direction. They then spot the car at traffic lights on Backer and Ruebweg in Breda and decide to conduct a traffic check. 

After the check, it turns out that the car has two bald tires, and the officers issue a report for this. At the same time, the officers notice that the driver of the car is carrying two phones. They also see cash, coins, and a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot device in the center console of the car. When asked where the man came from that evening, he cannot provide a clear answer. Combined with the fact for which the license plate is registered, the police suspect that the suspect was dealing or carrying drugs at the time of the check. Therefore, they proceed to search the man and check the car. The suspect allows the police to proceed, insisting that there is nothing to be found on him.

But nothing could be further from the truth during the car check. The police officer knows that dealers often use hiding places that do not originally belong in the vehicle. During the search, he finds a hidden compartment behind the center console. Here he finds a sandwich bag containing a large quantity of narcotics, namely 77 hard balls and 18 pony packs.  Due to this discovery, the 24-year-old man from Breda is arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking and taken to the station. The police also seize his two phones and the drugs.

What is ANPR?

The abbreviation ANPR stands for the English term Automatic Number Plate Recognition. ANPR cameras are designed to recognize the license plates of passing vehicles. When an ANPR camera detects a license plate that matches one in the database, an alert follows. Based on this, the police can take action.