Dutch Government investigates drug corruption at

UNCLAS THE HAGUE 000293 SIPDIS STATE FOR G, INL, INL/T, EUR/UBI ONDCP FOR CSISSON DEA FOR OFE/MORALES, CORLEY DOJ FOR OIA/FRIEDMAN BRUSSELS FOR USEU, LEGATT E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SNAR KCRM NL SUBJECT: Dutch Government investigates drug corruption at Schiphol Airport - KLM ground crew arrests. ¶1. At the end of December 2003, the Dutch press reported claims made to the police by an Aruban drug smuggler convicted in the Netherlands that civil servants and ground crew at Schiphol (including customs officers, military police, baggage handlers, and cleaners) have been engaged in drug smuggling since the mid 1990s. The unnamed smuggler said "corrupt civil servants within the Schiphol Team" [group set up in 1993 to fight drug trafficking at Schiphol] were involved and he had personally recruited and paid them. According to him, the work schedules of particular Koninklijke Marechaussee (KMar - military police) staff were taken into consideration when importing cocaine from South America. Press reports stated KMar's own investigation bureau had found evidence during the summer of 2003 that some of its staff may have been involved in drug smuggling and there was sufficient basis for further investigation by the Rijksrecherche (state criminal investigation office - like Internal Affairs). ¶2. Acting Customs/ICE Attache Vicente met on January 29 with Bert Mellema, the team leader of the Operational Intelligence Group of the Rijskrecherce. Mellema did not offer details of the ongoing investigation into corruption at Schiphol, but confirmed they were conducting an investigation. He also noted there were many more problems with airport security (handled by a private company) and ground crew personnel, but those investigations were not being handled by his office since they did not involve Dutch officials. He lent credence to the smuggler's claims of using the internet to provide courier identification to airport security. Mellema noted there had been four major investigation into Schiphol corruption over the past 2 years. Vicente offered to put Dutch officials in touch with American law enforcement officials who have dealt with similar offenses in order to exchange best practices. Mellema did not take up the offer immediately, but said he would consider it. ¶3. Confirming Mellema's assessment of problems with the ground crew personnel, the national crime squad (Nationale Recherche) arrested 11 KLM employees who worked in the secured baggage handling area on suspicion of cocaine smuggling at Schiphol on Feb. 3. These employees had passes, allowing them access to the airport's secured area. They allegedly picked up suitcases containing cocaine from the baggage area and carried the drugs out in backpacks, bags and boxes. This ongoing "Primera" investigation involves coordinated action by local, national, military and financial (FIOD-ECD) police, KLM Security Services, and Schiphol Airport. International in scope, "Primera" investigators seized 117 kilos of cocaine at Schiphol and Aruba airports. In Belgium, a suspect was arrested carrying 104 kilos of cocaine in his car. A spokesperson for the Public Prosecutors' Office told the Embassy more arrests are expected. Sobel