US embassy cable - 04THEHAGUE406

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