'Turnover synthetic drugs higher than AH'
PUBLISHED ON SATURDAY, AUGUST 25, 2018 10:56

Criminals have produced at least 18.9 billion euros worth of ecstasy and amphetamine in the Netherlands last year. That is in a study by the Police Academy. The majority of that money goes abroad. In the Netherlands, producers and traders would convert at least 3 to 5 billion.

Albert Heijn
The researchers note that these are very conservative estimates and that the real turnover is higher. It is the first time that the scale of production and the sale of synthetic drugs has been calculated so extensively. The calculated turnover is higher than the annual turnover of companies such as Philips and Albert Heijn.

600 million
What the profits are, according to the researchers, is more difficult to estimate. Producers would have earned over 600 million euros, and those who trade in synthetic drugs make more profit. Distributors and dealers abroad probably earn the most. The majority of these Dutch drugs are sold abroad.

China
The researchers write that the government does not effectively combat this production and trade. There are too few detectives to do research. The chance of being caught, especially for producers and traders who are higher up in the hierarchy, is low. The punishments given in the Netherlands are relatively low according to the researchers. All in all, the Netherlands is a good location for producers, partly because of the good logistic possibilities.

Imports of raw materials from, in particular, China are not sufficiently controlled. There is little diplomatic pressure to do anything about it.