The Dutch police have, largely unconsciously, contributed to the arrest of one of the largest drug lords in the world: the Mexican Joquin Guzman, better known as 'El Chapo'. In 2011 and 2012, the Dutch police listened to large parts of the drug network around El Chapo, reporting sources to de Volkskrant .

Research from the newspaper shows that a server used in the eavesdropping operation was located in the Netherlands. The bugged communication was passed on to the FBI.

The Dutch police only partially knew the importance of the operation, writes the newspaper. The FBI only told in January 2013 that the bugging operation revolved around El Chapo.

The network around El Chapo could be tapped because an infiltrator working for the FBI had set up the communication network for the drug lord. The FBI therefore had access to the server and the keys to decipher the messages.

Reportedly the server ended up in the Netherlands because of the close cooperation. The Netherlands also deals easily with tap requests compared to other countries.

From the moment the server was used in the Netherlands, the communication around El Chapo was tapped by the Team High Tech Crime (THTC). The encrypted data was passed on to the FBI.

In the Netherlands, few people would have been aware of the data collection. Even within the police, only a small group would have known about the cooperation with the FBI.