During raids in dozens of apartments in The Hague neighborhood of Ypenburg on Tuesday morning, the police confiscated millions of euros in cash, five firearms, narcotics and 14 cars. A total of 18 people were arrested, the police said in a statement.
The police raided a total of 35 locations in Ypenburg, Rijswijk, Zoetermeer, Nootdorp and one location in Rotterdam. The police suspected criminals lived in the apartments Ypenburg – the apartments were rented out, but no one was officially registered as living there. The municipality of The Hague immediately closed one of the homes due to drug trafficking, according to the police.
The first three suspects were arrested even before the raids started at around 5:00 a.m. on Tuesday. The main suspect is a 43-year-old man from Nootdorp. According to the police, the man actually rented the homes through his company, and then sublet them to people who did not want their names on any rental contracts, so-called ‘ghost tenants’. The other two suspects, a 36-year-old man from Rijswijk and a 57-year-old man from Zoetermeer, own a company with the Nootdorp man. This company was also used to rent homes and sublet them to ghost tenants, as well as to launder the rent paid by these tenants.
The doors of the Ypenburg apartments “hid a whole criminal world”, the police said. “Because people can live their completely anonymously, they can often go about their business undisturbed.” Ghost renting falls under the category undermining crime, in which the upper- and underworld mix with each other.
