Dutch and Belgian police carried out 23 raids early on Tuesday morning in a major anti-drugs operation. Searches were carried out at premises in Oss and Eindhoven in the south of the Netherlands and in Knokke and Antwerp in the Dutch-speaking area of Belgium.

Four people from both the Netherlands and Belgium have been arrested during the raids which are still ongoing. The detainees are suspected of large-scale trade in synthetic drugs and tens of kilos of amphetamines have been confiscated.

The raids were the culmination of a joint investigation which has lasted one and a half years and involved 150 Dutch and Belgian detectives. The operation not only targetted the drugs trade but also the money laundering operations that form part of it.

The long-running investigation resulted in the earlier arrest of a number of other suspects and their testimony led in part to today’s 23 raids. The police are refusing to give more details about the extent of the drugs network. However, more arrests are expected to be made in the near future.

(mw)

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