Five hundred nightclubs and cafés in the Netherlands will be fitted with vaults where visitors can drop off their illegal weapons and drugs anonymously. Police will keep the keys to the vaults and will regularly open them to confiscate the contents.

The vaults are a project of Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballinn who will officially install the first such receptacle in a bar in the town of Loosdrecht on Friday. Mr Hirsch Ballin has said the system is intended to help counter the carrying of small arms and knives by people who are going out.

The system was tested in Amsterdam, Heerlen and Maastricht.

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