Cablegate: Corruption and Drug Trafficking at Schiphol Airport

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 THE HAGUE 002052

SIPDIS

STATE FOR G, INL, INL/T, EUR/UBI
ONDCP FOR AGRESTI
DEA FOR OFE/MORALES, COLEY
DOJ FOR OIA/FRIEDMAN
BRUSSELS FOR USEU, LEGATT

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SNAR KCRM NL
SUBJECT: CORRUPTION AND DRUG TRAFFICKING AT SCHIPHOL AIRPORT

REF: (A) THE HAGUE 293; (B) THE HAGUE 1784 (C) 2003 THE
HAGUE 3199 (D) PARAMARIBO 546

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Summary
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1. The Schiphol 100% control measure, designed by Justice
Minister Donner to stop drug trafficking into the
Netherlands from the Netherlands Antilles, Aruba, Suriname,
and later Venezuela, is now in its ninth month. Donner
touts the measure as a success, citing declining cocaine
seizures at Schiphol as an indicator The measure deters drug
trafficking. Based on this assessment, the Minister plans
to continue the policy indefinitely. Widely publicized
attempts by drug traffickers to circumvent the 100%
controls, however, have raised questions about their
efficacy. Recent investigations at Schiphol, for example,
led to the arrests of fourteen baggage handlers and four
shop assistants accused of smuggling drugs through
uncontrolled airport channels. In addition, Dutch local law
enforcement and press claim the Schiphol controls have led
to large-scale diversion of drug trafficking to other
regions. Donner disagrees and has stated law enforcement is
on alert for possible diversion. Post is contacting law
enforcement elsewhere to make an assessment.

2. Summary Con't: U.S. continues to express concern about
the "catch and release" of low-level couriers component of
the Schiphol control policy. Dutch law enforcement
officials do not interrogate couriers prior to release. Nor
do they share basic identifying information with the U.S.,
inhibiting international investigations and discovery of
underlying criminal networks. Embassy (including DEA)
officers are pushing for access to data on drug couriers
arrested or detained at Schiphol. End Summary

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Corruption
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3. The arrest in Suriname on July 26 of a Dutch national
ended an investigation into a drug trafficking organization
engaged in the import of cocaine through the secured baggage
handling area at Schiphol. The suspect was recently
deported to the Netherlands. In April 2003, Schiphol
Customs officers discovered two baggage containers
containing 40 kilos of cocaine. An investigation by the
CargoHarc team, comprised of Kmar military police, fiscal
investigation/control service (FIOD-ECD) and Customs and led
by the Haarlem public prosecutor, showed criminals in
various South American countries, including Curacao and
Brazil, had been hiding shipments of cocaine in suitcases
and baggage containers. Upon unloading at Schiphol, the
drugs were removed and taken outside to avoid screening.
Since August 2003, 19 Dutch suspects have been arrested,
including 14 baggage handlers. In addition to seizures of
more than 60 kilos of cocaine, the police have seized
firearms, 750,000 euros in cash, jewelry, cars and a boat.
In December 2003, the Schiphol court convicted and sentenced
the first six suspects to seven years imprisonment. The
case against the other 13 is scheduled for Fall 2004.

4. On July 14, 2004, the Kmar military police reported a
Kmar/Customs investigation had proven personnel of tax-free
shops at the airport had played an important role in cocaine
trafficking. Four shop assistants and five drug couriers
have been arrested so far. According to Kmar, they had been
working in the "See Buy Fly" shops where security passes are
required. Baggage of shop assistants is searched on entry,
but only randomly upon departure. The case confirms the
image of the airport as a prominent transit point for
cocaine.

5. The issue of drug corruption at Schiphol has also earned
parliamentary attention. In April 2004, Justice Minister
Donner said in reply to Lower House (Second Chamber)
questions that investigations had shown organized crime was
trying to press and bribe employees and law enforcement
personnel into criminal drug activities. Donner said, over
the past three years, 18 employees of private organizations
working at Schiphol had been prosecuted, in addition to the
14 KLM baggage handlers arrested in February. Donner could
not state how many public sector employees had been arrested
and prosecuted because the information is not public.

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Prevention and Investigation of Corruption
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6. According to Donner, the "Schiphol Integrity Platform,"
a public-private partnership at Schiphol meant to reduce
crime at the airport, encourages companies established at
the airport to adopt National Crime Squad recommendations
about general crime prevention measures. The chief
prosecutor of the Haarlem court district chairs the
Integrity Platform. Participants are airlines, Schiphol
airport, retailers, freight companies, the local government
of Haarlemmermeer, Customs, the Kmar military police, the
prosecutor's office, and the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce.
Participation is voluntary. According to Donner, the
companies themselves are responsible for implementing the
recommendations about prevention.

7. In Parliament, Donner said the Kmar, Customs and
National Crime Squad were charged with controls and
investigations at the airport. The special Unit Randstad
Noord (URN), which is part of the National Crime Squad, has
been actively operating at Schiphol since 1999. The URN, a
70-member joint team of Kmar, police, and FIOD-ECD, is
responsible for Schiphol's overall law enforcement.
According to Donner, the team, now located a half-hour drive
from Schiphol in Heemskerk, will be physically housed at the
airport in August 2004. The Schiphol team task force, set-
up in 1993 to fight drug trafficking, is also active at the
airport. The team, made up of Customs and Kmar, is
responsible for incoming and outgoing passenger controls.
DEA agents from The Hague Country Office who have visited
the Schiphol team site report the operation is efficient,
the detectives are professional, and all pertinent services
- including evidence processing, detention facilities, two
court rooms and a prosecutor's office - are available on-
site.

8. Earlier this year, two URN leaders reported it would be
impossible to make Schiphol drug-free. Schiphol handles
some 41 million passengers and 1.2 million tons of freight
per year, or 120,000 suitcases per day. The URN leaders
estimated some 40,000 kilos of cocaine were annually
smuggled via Schiphol, of which only 5,000 were for domestic
use. The URN has set up the High Tech Crime Initiative
Schiphol (HTCIS) project to address the vulnerability of the
digital infrastructure at Schiphol. According to project
leader Eikelenboom, criminals obtain and manipulate business
information through IT to facilitate drug smuggling.
Outgoing URN chief Van Dorp pleaded for closer cooperation
by government organizations and between government and
companies at the airport. He noted the fight against
criminals would be served by allowing prior consultation of
passenger lists by his team. Since its establishment in
1999, the URN has arrested 25 criminals, who together have
been sentenced to more than 170 years in prison.

9. Below are Justice Ministry statistics about cocaine
seizures by Schiphol Customs in airfreight (including mail
and courier shipments):

2000: 1,692 kilos (274 findings)
2001: 734 kilos (382 findings)
2002: 858 kilos (456 findings)
2003: 2,211 kilos (612 findings)

According to the Justice Ministry, by far the most drug
freight comes from the Netherlands Antilles and Suriname.

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Drug Trafficking: 100% Controls
-------------------------------
10. On June 3, the Telegraaf newspaper reported, according
to an internal Justice Ministry document, drug runners would
not be deterred by the 100% controls. The Ministry
published a clarification stating the document had been
based on a discussion about possible preventative effects of
media campaigns. The conclusion was the few drug runners
still daring to come through the Netherlands would not be
deterred by media campaigns as they had already made a
conscious choice to smuggle drugs. The Ministry praised the
positive effects of the 100% controls, including "the sharp
decrease in the number of bolita swallowers, and the near
elimination of cocaine on airlines."

11. Reports from Embassy Paramaribo support skepticism that
the Schiphol policy deters drug trafficking from countries
of origin. Recent cable traffic indicates the number of
narcotraffickers caught leaving Suriname for the Netherlands
dropped only slightly following the institution of the 100%
controls (reftel D). DEA agents at Post are also skeptical
of the policy's deterrence value.

12. In his reply to parliamentary questions relating to
negative reports about his Schiphol interdiction policy,
Donner said the 100% controls had had a noticeable and
positive effect. He noted criminal organizations were
obviously hindered by the controls. According to Donner,
the Schiphol team was watching possible diversions in
smuggling routes. He said more than 1,200 kilos of cocaine
have been seized so far this year by the Schiphol team. The
monthly cocaine seizures are dropping rapidly, from more
than 500 kilos in January to 80 kilos in May. According to
Donner, the number of drug mules has dropped, but more
"bolita swallowers" are being found. Donner noted, however,
they could only swallow a limited quantity of drugs.
Overall, Donner considers the Schiphol policy a success. He
will continue it for now, including the "temporary" measure
of turning back "bolita swallowers" carrying less than three
kilos ("catch and release").

13. Donner said, up to mid-June, some 2,875 persons had
been arrested at Schiphol on suspicion of cocaine smuggling.
Of this group, 1,108 (38.5%) were sent away without a
subpoena. Donner concluded "the consequent use of the 100%
controls on risk flights has clearly led to a drop in the
number of couriers and cocaine seizures." According to
Donner, the measure may well be a useful and desirable
instrument to fight Schiphol drug trafficking on the longer
term.

14. Donner also provided an overview of the number of drug
cases under Art. 2 of the Dutch Opium Act handled by the
court in Haarlem (Schiphol):

2002: 2,312
2003: 2,630
June 2004: 1,632
2004 Est.: 3,917

Number of Subpoenas Issued under Art. 2 of Opium Act
(since December 2003, drug couriers with less than 3 kilos
are not issued a subpoena):

Dec. 2003 : 125
Jan. 2004 : 99
Feb. : 123
March : 125
April : 128
May : 134
June thru 6/11: 106
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Diversion
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15. Despite Donner's assurance to the contrary, chief
public prosecutor Swagerman of the Roermond region (near the
German and Belgian borders) reported in July the 100%
controls were so predictable drug criminals were massively
diverting to other locations and smuggling methods. He now
observed many Antillean drug gangs operating in his region.
He warned the 100% controls, which take up a lot of police
and customs capacity, had created opportunities for
traffickers to use other, less controlled routes.

16. Various drug addiction experts believe the successful
approach of stopping "bolita swallowers" at Schiphol doesn't
mean less cocaine is entering the country. They think
insufficient attention is being paid to imports through
other channels, such as the Rotterdam port. The Volkskrant
daily quoted Jellinek clinic drug expert Roel Kersemakers:
"The market price of cocaine has not gone up; drug smuggling
via Schiphol is too insignificant to be able to achieve a
price drop." Rotterdam criminologist Damian Zaitch
estimated last year drug smuggling via Schiphol was not even
10% of total drug imports. He suggested a majority of drugs
entered the country via Rotterdam and Amsterdam ports and
through airfreight. In reaction to these criticisms, an MoJ
spokesman denied port controls were being neglected and said
this remained a MOJ priority.

17. A day after the Ministry's denial (June 28), the
Volkskrant paper reported despite increasingly sharper
controls and security measures, drug smugglers were again
choosing large seaports to import/transit drugs. After
years of steadily dropping drug seizures, ports such as
Rotterdam and Antwerp have shown increases over the past six
months. Dutch Seaport Police Commissioner In `t Veld, noted
a "considerable rise" in Rotterdam drug transits. Only six
months previously, he had pressed success stories in the
fight against drug smuggling on the media. For instance,
cocaine seizures in 2003 in Rotterdam dropped significantly
to less than 1,000 kilos, whereas in previous years, much
more was seized in a single month. At the time, he
attributed the drop to better controls and investigation
techniques. In `t Veld had no explanation for the rising
seizures.

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The Stopover Problem
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18. On June 10, the Telegraaf pointed out a way around the
Schiphol controls by using Schiphol as a stopover to another
Schengen country. A European baggage rule bans controls of
baggage on stopovers, allowing controls only at the final
destination. In addition, if Schiphol is the final
destination, baggage on these Schengen flights is hardly
checked because Customs and Kmar personnel are too busy
checking the direct flights from Suriname, Aruba and the
Antilles. The paper also noted, with the recent Air France
takeover of KLM, there were no longer direct flights between
Venezuela and Schiphol - they now go to Paris. This means
controls on Venezuelan flights, which Donner instituted in
April (reftel B), are not taking place.

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Missed Opportunities
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19. DEA liaisons in The Hague cite additional problems with
the Schiphol policy involving lost opportunities to gain
intelligence on drug runners and the organizations for which
they work. First, the names of detained couriers are only
shared with certain airlines and selected countries, (the
Dutch exchange passenger data with Belgium, Germany, France
and the U.K.), but not with the U.S. Because there is no
central database flagging those caught and turned back under
the Schiphol policy, a repeat offender will only be caught
if they travel again on one of the select airlines using the
same name. Embassy and DEA are currently engaged in
negotiations to obtain weekly summaries of couriers detained
and/or arrested at Schiphol for inclusion in DEA and other
US databases. We have argued that sharing this information
enhances international investigations and leads to the
disruption and dismantling of drug trafficking
organizations. According to Schiphol team agents, the
intelligence database employed by Schiphol law enforcement
is computerized and could be shared easily with the US given
a green-light from both the prosecutor and Justice Ministry.

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Comment
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20. Despite indications drug seizures at Schiphol are
decreasing, the broader impact of the Schiphol 100%
interdiction policy remains unclear. Post will investigate
other drug routes to assess the scope of diversion and
continue to develop a clearer picture of drug traffic into
the Netherlands. Embassy officials will also continue to
press the Dutch for access to information on couriers
detained at Schiphol. End Comment.

Russel

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