THE HAGUE: A major cocaine-smuggling gang broken up by the Dutch authorities planned to carry out assassinations, a police spokesman said Wednesday.
A joint operation Tuesday by more than 200 royal Dutch gendarmes, customs and tax officials led to 12 arrests in total. Officers swooped on homes and offices around the country, including in the Dutch capital Amsterdam.
Royal gendarme’s spokesman Robert Van Kapel told AFP agents had confiscated quantities of cocaine and weapons and said the gang "planned to carry out assassinations."
But he gave no details as to who they had planned to target or what weapons officers had seized.
Van Kapel said the gang had used Schiphol international airport to smuggle cocaine from the Caribbean.
"In total we have arrested 12 people including from the United States, Cape Verde and the Dutch Antilles," he added. And they expected to make more arrests.
"It was one of the biggest actions against drug gangs in recent years," Van Kapel said.
Dutch media reported the cocaine had been smuggled through the airport by using couriers and hiding it in containers.
Earlier this month, gendarmes busted a separate gang at the airport. They had used baggage handlers to smuggle drugs from the Caribbean. Police arrested 20 people in that bust.
And in March, gendarmes at Schiphol confiscated 300 kilos of cocaine from South and Central America with an estimated street value of 12 million euros ($16 million).
The haul was one of the largest in recent years at the airport.
Schiphol is Europe's fourth-largest airport with between 120,000 to 140,000 passengers passing through daily. (AFP)
