An international crime ring that imported thousands of kilograms of heroin to the Netherlands was broken up this week with the arrests of three people in Amsterdam and Dordrecht.

Authorities said the drugs were brought to the capital to then be distributed back out to Germany, the Scandinavian countries, and the United Kingdom.

Seven others were arrested in Turkey as part of the plot, along with another in Poland and a 32-year-old woman in Belgium, Dutch police said. The three taken into custody in the Netherlands are between the ages of 44 and 50, the latest arrests in an operation spanning over 14 months.

The international police operation included the cooperation of authorities in those countries, as well as Belarus, Germany, Kazakhstan, Italy, Lithuania and Spain. Europol also took part in the.investigations.

Authorities in the two countries discussed the case and shared information to see what they could uncover. « It soon became clear that a
44-year-old man from Dordrecht was an important facilitator in the Netherlands, » police said. They allege the man arranged different forms of cargo that could adequately conceal large quantities of drugs.

While investigating, they managed to catch several heroin deliveries in the Netherlands, each over 100 kilograms in weight. It led to six arrests in Amsterdam, Bergschenhoek, Roosendaal, Rotterdam and elsewhere after a June 2019 discovery of 170 kilograms in a warehouse.

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