Jan Struijs, president of the police union, has claimed for years that the Netherlands is a narco-state.
That is, there is a parallel economy that competes with the official economy.
This has led, for example, to higher housing prices, to legal companies being taken over by criminals and to money being laundered in large quantities.
- I call the Netherlands a narcostate 2.0 because the drugs pump so much money into the legal economy that it takes over.
It undermines democracy but also the economy, says Jan Struijs.
Another consequence is that more and more people are threatened, pressured or exploited by criminals.
Everything from local politicians, entrepreneurs, civil servants, journalists and lawyers.
Murder of journalist and lawyer
An example of this is the events surrounding the so-called Marengo trial, where 17 people from the so-called Mocromaffian stood accused of six murders and several attempted murders.
The crown witness in the trial was attacked in such a way that his brother was murdered, his lawyer was murdered and finally also the journalist who helped him when the lawyer had died.
The murder of the well-known crime journalist Peter R de Vries has caused the country's crime journalists to become more cautious.
To now name a criminal is something that can have consequences, says long-time journalist Jens Olde Kalter.
- When a journalist publishes the name of a criminal, the shit starts for them with the legal community, with the police and with other criminals.
They just want to earn their millions and do their business in silence, says Jens Olde Kalter.
Prosecutors need police protection
Prosecutors and lawyers working on lawsuits against serious criminals often need police protection these days.
Even some journalists have lived under threats.
Jens Olde Kalter has not yet needed shelter and he hopes he never ends up there.
But the increasingly brutal criminal environment has made him rethink his job.
- Is it worth dying for?
Do I want my children to grow up without a father?
Do I want my children to grow up in a narco state?
These are the kinds of things I think about, says Jens Olde Kalter.