Drugs found in container at Dutch Marine barracks possibly from St. Maarten

~ Lack of security at container terminal in St. Maarten an indication of a serious problem ~

PHILIPSBURG – Kilos of drugs found on Monday at the Marine barracks in Doorn in The Netherlands are quite possibly from the island of St. Maarten reports in The Netherlands indicate. According to the Algemeen Dagblad (AD), that is what Marines and union representatives told the newspaper. The container containing the 16 bags of cocaine packs has a code on the side that refers to the Caribbean island.

Marines found the drugs on Monday afternoon in a container at the Van Braam Houckgeest barracks. Video footage of Marines opening a sports bag containing packs of what is believed to be cocaine in front of an opened container stuffed with personal belongings and other items including several sports bags presumably containing the illegal drugs was carried by all the major news sites in Holland.

According to the AD, a spokesperson for the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee confirmed that it involves dozens of kilos of drugs. The intercepted party was sent to the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) for further investigation. The Marechaussee could not say anything about the origin of the drugs. However, the spokesman said that the quantity was probably meant to be sold and not for personal use.

The container most likely came from St. Maarten, reports indicate. Some of the 1800 marines stationed in Doorn were in St. Maarten from September 2017, sent there to help after the devastation of Hurricane Irma.

According to the AD, trade unionist Arjen Rozendal of the AFMP, a union for military personnel, was recently on St. Maarten. The Marines stationed there have no barracks, he saw. According to Rozendal the Marines stayed there in a few stacked containers. It is an open area at the port with containers for storage, among other things. Anyone could visit the Marines. Rozendal told the AD how at the gate a lady pointed him to where the marines were sitting and raised the barrier to let him in. Anyone can come to the containers, explained Rozendal. So anything could have happened to the shipped container, on the island, en route, in the port of Antwerp, Rozendal reckoned.

The investigation into the drug find is being carried out by the Public Prosecutor’s office in Oost-Nederland. This is because the drugs were found on military grounds and the court in Arnhem has a so-called military chamber that deals with criminal cases involving soldiers, the AD reports.

On St. Maarten, according to 721news.com reports in May this year indicated that a container at the terminal was breached by an unknown person or persons at the end of April or in the beginning of May. What was removed from the breached container was not known. However, investigations by the authorities did not reveal any indications of any crime committed.

Now that a container from the Marines passing through the container terminal in St. Maarten on its way to The Netherlands has been found with 16 bags of cocaine allegedly, the suspicion is that the drugs may have been planted in the container in St. Maarten. That this may have been possible might have everything to do with the lack of security at the container terminal at the harbor in Pointe Blanche, St. Maarten. The security at the harbor falls under the responsibility of Checkmate Security, a company whose director is under investigation for fraud and submitting questionable invoices to the Harbor Group of Companies in the Emerald-investigation.