Italian mafia busted at FloraHolland Aalsmeer
Images from a video from the Italian police. (Source: pianainforma)
“The day before yesterday, it all happened. I received a phone call: can we buy your products? A bit later another one: can we buy your products? Then I got an idea what was going on," says an anonymous Dutch exporter.
The 'Ndrangheta, the notorious mafia from Calabria, Italy is suspected. "Among those arrested are three brothers who live in Aalsmeer, the Netherlands and led the Crupi-clan of the 'Ndrangheta. They are 42, 50 and 52 years old," says Het Parool. The suspects are mentioned by name in various Italian media.
I fermati, the arrested suspects
It has been going on for years, dozen of small and large Dutch companies lost a lot of money to these people. In total, we talk about millions of euros.
Pre-payment
"I have also been scammed," says an Dutch exporter. "The only way to prevent this is pre-payment. But it can always happen." In this way, he points out the shrewdness of the scammers and the revenue driven attitude of growers and the trade.
Companies vanish after delivery
The companies place orders and when it is delivered, they vanish. So, the supplier will not receive their money. A couple of months ago, the Dutch detective force started their large investigation. When raids were carried out at various companies in Aalsmeer, people were arrested and several items including a firearm, were seized. Among them was a large amount of chocolate. At the arrests last weekend, also several kilos of cocaine were found.
Relief
"The problem is probably not entirely solved, but the largest and most efficient parties are gone now," says spokesman of FloraHolland. "Undoubtedly, the companies will be relieved. On the list with names, which has been published in the Italian newspaper, we saw five or six people that were regularly at the auction."
Warning
One of the initiators of the investigation was Agro-Check. This company has been warning about scammers for many years and encouraged companies to report them to the police. Now the company is warning companies not to be over enthusiastic about the enhanced safety: although a important player has been arrested, they expect that more 'gangs' are still active. Therefore, new carousel fraud represented by new faces can occur again.