The public prosection service has launched a crackdown on corruption at Rotterdam’s port amid concerns about the scale of organised crime at the docks.

Prosecutors say they are aware criminals are approaching dock workers, including customs officers, truck drivers and personnel at freight companies, but admit the extent of the corruption is not known.

‘Criminals pay €5,000 to borrow an access pass,’ prosecutor Loes van Wees told NOS. ‘But we know of amounts of several times that, up to €70,000.’

Last April a 54-year-old customs officer, Gerrit G, was arrested following the discovery of a consignment of 400 kilograms of cocaine. G is accused of taking payments from gangs to ensure that containers full of drugs passed through the port unchecked.

G, who worked in the customs service for 30 years, is said to have received 7.5% of the market value of every drug consignment he removed from the checking system. A bag containing €1m was found during a search of his home.

‘No going back’

Once a dock worker becomes involved in the criminal trade there is no going back, Van Wees said. ‘You can’t just do it once or twice and then say: no more. We know stories of people who wanted to stop and received threats.’

The prosecution service says it suspects people smugglers and cargo thieves are manipulating the system, as well as drug traffickers.

‘We grab thousands of kilos every year, but it’s not unusual to suppose that several times that amount makes it through,’ said Van Wees.

She added that there was evidence that human traffickers were moving their operations from the French and Belgian ports to Rotterdam. ‘We see signs that this is happening,’ she said.