Posted on 12/13/2003 6:39:31 AM PST by knighthawk
RIJSWIJK, Saturday - Justice Minister Jan Piet Hein Donner's policy of taking no action anymore against cocaine smugglers at Schiphol airport applies to all couriers carrying less than 3 kilograms. They will not be arrested, fined or tried.
Confidential sources confirmed on Friday that Donner has doubled the already controversial threshold of 1.5 kilos to 3 kilos of cocaine. Whether the drugs have been swallowed or hidden in suitcases does not matter; they will be confiscated and the courier released. Foreigners will be sent back by the next plane, but couriers from the Netherlands Antilles may stay in the Netherlands.
Donner has taken this step to prevent the judiciary from becoming overloaded. His spokesman was only prepared to admit Friday that the threshold of 1.5 kilos of cocaine had been adhered to previously. He did not confirm or deny the increase to 3 kilos, otherwise all the couriers would start smuggling 2.9 kilos.
The policy, which goes hand in hand with '100 percent inspection' on high-risk flights, came into effect on Thursday. This means that all passengers from the Antilles and Suriname and their luggage will be monitored. A man carrying 2.9 kilos has apparently been discovered already.
The Labour (PvdA) opposition party is sympathetic to the Christian democratic (CDA) minister's policy. The conservative (VVD) governing party however reacted angrily to the directive on Friday, which VVD MP Laetitia Griffith called "unacceptable". She anticipated problems with other European countries, where a large proportion of the drugs is eventually used.
Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) called the policy "totally reprehensible." LPF MP Joost Eerdmans will quizz the minister on Tuesday during Question Time. "Every Columbian who can count will now send his minions to Schiphol. It will be a White Christmas for Donner," he predicted.
A kilo of cocaine can have a street value of about 50,000 euros in the Netherlands. Some flights have as many as 50 couriers on board. They are recorded on a blacklist to be used by airline companies. The minister assumes that the 100 percent inspections will discourage the drug couriers.
A nation run by women and womenly men. The Dutch deserve their fate.
I am curious to know what your solution would be.
Is that how you read it? I read it that their WOD was working too well -- "Donner has taken this step to prevent the judiciary from becoming overloaded."
The obvious solution is to increase the judiciary. And the prisons. And the sentencing for trafficking.
But if the Netherlands wishes to go in the opposite direction, I think it will prove to be an interesting experiment. Better them than us.
We're talking about drug traffickers, MrLeRoy, not users.
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