Episode details

World Service,25 Nov 2021,26 mins

Rotterdam and the cocaine connection

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Available for over a year

Europe’s North Sea coast has overtaken the Iberian peninsula as the primary point of entry for cocaine reaching the continent. Industrial-sized labs have been busted in the Netherlands, and mafia-style executions have occurred on the streets. Most recently, crime journalist Peter R de Vries was shot and mortally wounded in busy Amsterdam. Linda Pressly asks how the Netherlands has become one of the largest illicit drug economies in the world. Reporter: Linda Pressly Producer: Michael Gallagher Editor: Bridget Harney Image: CCTV footage from the port of Rotterdam showing cocaine ‘collectors’ – young men charged with retrieving smuggled narcotics from shipping containers (Credit: Kramer Group)

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