Dutch 'misled about drugs infiltrators'
16 June 2003
AMSTERDAM — German police have used a civilian infiltrator to investigate drugs crimes in the Netherlands without the knowledge of Dutch authorities, breaching the principle of trust that international co-operation between police and justice officials is based on, it has been claimed.
Newspaper De Volkskrant said on Monday that it has obtained documents, which indicate that Dutch justice officials have been misled at least once — and possibly twice. The second case involves an ongoing operation in which US authorities have deployed an agent infiltrator on Dutch soil.
The first case revolves around a German request for the Netherlands to extradite a Turkish suspect living in the Netherlands. But the Amsterdam Court ruled in 1998 that German police had used a civilian agent on Dutch soil without permission from Dutch authorities. This ruling has never been made public, the newspaper reported on Monday.
The court said the case represented a breach of the Netherlands' sovereignty and a source said the case caused an outcry in the Amsterdam court because authorities stumbled across evidence of the infiltrator accident. The case led to concern among legal circles that more agents were operating within Dutch borders without the knowledge of the relevant authorities.
And a present extradition request appears to have confirmed the concerns.
The case revolves around a drugs suspect who has been fighting for more than 12 months to prevent his extradition to the US. An appeals court in The Hague recently rejected his last appeal against the extradition, despite the fact that the suspect — who is accused of helping smuggle ecstasy to the US via Germany — claims that he was approached by two infiltrators.
One of the two was an undercover agent responsible for the US investigation on Dutch and German soil. The agent had been given permission by Dutch justice officials to act as an infiltrator, but the agent's statement indicates that he was joined during the operation by a civilian operative.
Defence lawyer Marnix van der Werf said the statement — which has only recently been given to Dutch authorities — contradicts the documents previously handed over to authorities in the Netherlands. The first documents only discussed the use of one infiltrator.
Van der Werf said his client has always said that he spoke with two people, but that Dutch authorities never wanted to investigate that claim. The agent's statement indicates that US authorities withheld information that they considered to be sensitive in the Netherlands, he said.
The claims required a response from Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner, the lawyer said, but ministry and public prosecution spokespeople have refused to comment on the matter.
[Copyright Expatica News 2003] |
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