The criminal Ronald de Jong, also known as 'Red Ron', who grew up in Amsterdam, died on Thursday at the age of 60. He had been ill for some time, his family reported to the ANP.

In the early 1990s, De Jong earned a lot of money trading large quantities of drugs, which he transported as a driver. The police and judiciary let these and other drug transports through in order to penetrate to the top of the criminal organization with leaders such as Mink K. and Stanley Hillis.

This matter became known as the IRT Affair. It caused a lot of commotion in 1993 because police officers also turned out to be dealing in drugs and could keep the millions they earned for themselves. The parliamentary inquiry into the controversial investigative methods, led by PvdA politician Maarten van Traa, produced a damning verdict in 1996 and led to stricter legislation.

De Jong then became embroiled in legal proceedings about laundering the money he had earned from the drug trade. He was acquitted of that. In 2018, the Public Prosecution Service appealed against the acquittal.