Omrop FryslânCattle farmer Eelco Zandvliet receives a visit from the police
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Omrop Fryslân
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 14:58
About 250 farmers in the Frisian countryside have been visited by police and enforcers. They were warned about offers from the criminal environment. Remote stables and farms are popular with criminals, for example for the production or storage of drugs.
“The farmer is certainly not a suspect,” says local police officer Joop Bulthuis. He and colleagues are visiting livestock farmer Eelco Zandvliet in the rural area between Gorredijk and Langezwaag. Together they walk through the stables and tell the officers why it is better not to accept certain proposals. “If you are offered something and it is a very nice amount, then it is often too good to be true,” Bulthuis said to Omrop Fryslân.
One in ten farmers above the major rivers say they have been approached by suspected criminals with a dubious proposal, a survey showed last summer.
LTO Noord, the police and municipalities are trying to tackle crime in the Frisian countryside together. In North Brabant, agents have also visited farmers to warn about the dangers of subversion. With subversion, criminals use legal companies and services for their criminal activities. In this way, the boundaries between “normal” society and the underworld become blurred.
Older farmers
“We especially want to reach older farmers who are already stopping or cutting back and therefore have empty barns. We notice that they are not yet aware that there are also people who do not have good intentions and want to rent something,” says mayor Andries Bouwman of the municipality of Opsterland.
Farmer Zandvliet has received a sign to hang on the facade of his farm with the logo of the police, municipality and the silhouette of a criminal with a red cross through it. All farmers from Opsterland, West- and Ooststellingwerf can receive such a sign.
The sign should deter criminals:
Omrop FryslânFarmers can hang up such a sign
Mayor Bouwman: “It seems like a small thing, but the effect is big. It says that someone from the municipality or the police can walk through the shed without being asked and take a look. A criminal doesn’t want that.”
