From: <a href="http://content.omroep.nl/nos/docs/wikileaks/medewerking05THEHAGUE406.pdf">NOS</a><br>
Date: 2005-02-11
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 THE HAGUE 000406
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
STATE FOR G, INL, INL/T, EUR/UBI, EUR/ERA, WHA/CAR
ONDCP FOR CSISSON
DEA FOR OFE/MORALES, CORLEY
DOJ FOR OIA/FRIEDMAN
BRUSSELS FOR USEU, LEGATT
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SNAR, KCRM, NS, NL
SUBJECT: SCHIPHOL INTERDICTION - MINISTRY OF JUSTICE CLAIMS
SUCCESS, EXPANDS PROGRAM AND LOOKS FOR WAYS TO SHARE COURIER
INFORMATION
REF: (A) PARAMARIBO 111 (B) 03 THE HAGUE 3197
(C) 03 THE HAGUE 2527 (D) BROOKS-MANN E-MAILS

1. (U) SUMMARY: Seeing positive results from its efforts to
cut off the flow of cocaine from the Caribbean through
Schiphol, the Justice Ministry is expanding its interdiction
efforts to cover couriers of small amounts of drugs and to
flights from Suriname. The Ministry is exploring ways to
share its courier information with interested countries.
END SUMMARY.

2. (U) Claiming success in his interdiction efforts at
Schiphol airport, Justice Minister Donner announced in early
February that ALL drug couriers from the Netherlands
Antilles caught at Schiphol would be prosecuted. When the
program began on December 11 (reftel C), only those couriers
caught with more than 3 kilos of drugs were prosecuted
because of fears the Dutch judicial system would be
overwhelmed otherwise. Those caught with less than 3 kilos
surrendered their drugs and were returned to their
originating country without criminal sanction. Their names,
however, are entered into an airline blacklist. Airlines
continuing to carry passengers on the blacklist run the risk
of losing their Schiphol landing rights.

3. (U) Ministry officials claim the interdiction policy has
been a success and the number of people trafficking drugs
has fallen dramatically, thereby ending the judicial logjam
and making possible the move to 100% prosecution. Minister
Donner noted there are regularly flights on which no
couriers are arriving, or at most one or two. Previously
there were dozens of people. During the first five days
the policy went into effect in December, 89 cases were
investigated or prosecuted and 31 were returned to their
place of origin. For the week of January 15, 2004, 21
people were detained and 13 were returned.

4. (U) Following a visit to Suriname by a Justice Ministry
delegation (reftel A), Donner announced that Surinamese
flights would also be subject to enhanced scrutiny. (NOTE:
This amounts to five additional flights a week for the
interdiction teams to watch.) That policy went into effect
February 11. The Justice Ministry suspected drug
traffickers were relocating from the Netherlands Antilles to
Suriname to avoid detection at Schiphol.

5. (SBU) Global officer met with Arie IJzerman, MOJ Director
of International Criminal Affairs and Drugs Policy, February
11 and discussed the need for the Dutch to share their
information on the drug couriers. IJzerman said the Dutch
had informed their EU partners about the Schiphol
interdiction effort and many, particularly the French,
expressed concern about how drug traffickers might transit
their countries to avoid Schiphol. They were interested in
getting access to the courier information for law
enforcement and border control purposes. The Global officer
reminded IJzerman the U.S. had also asked for the courier
information in discussions last October as the Dutch were
formulating the new policy (ref D).

6. (SBU) IJzerman said the Justice Ministry was looking into
the possibility of information sharing. One option under
consideration was to share the information with Customs
Services, with the restriction that it could not be used for
prosecution. Once a courier is convicted in the
Netherlands, IJzerman noted, the Ministry is able to share
that information with foreign law enforcement officials. He
admitted, however, that using the courier information for
visa purposes posed a problem, which the Ministry was
looking into.

7. (SBU) COMMENT: We are pleased the Justice Ministry is
expanding the scope of its interdiction efforts. We remain
skeptical, however, how long they will be sustained.
Meanwhile, we will continue to press the Ministry to
overcome the legal obstacles, occasioned by Dutch privacy
concerns, preventing information sharing of data on the
couriers. Such an effort has a greater chance of success
now that the Netherlands' EU partners have expressed
interest in the information as well. END COMMENT.

SOBEL
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