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Growth in the Number of First-Time Offenders
In addition to the increased number of young couriers, there has been a corresponding rise in the number of first-time offenders. In 2020, about half of those arrested for transporting drugs were first-time offenders; by 2022, this number had grown to more than three-quarters of all arrests. This indicates that more people, especially teenagers, are engaging in illegal activities despite having no prior criminal involvement.
Experts believe a 2022 change in the law is partly responsible for the increase. The amendment introduced stricter penalties for retrieving smuggled drugs, which may have led criminal gangs to use minors more often, as they are likely to receive lighter sentences.
How Traffickers Choose Their Victims
Research shows that many of the minors recruited by drug traffickers come from single-parent families or from families living in high-crime areas. In addition, young people under 23 are more susceptible to recruitment by these groups if they have prior involvement with criminal elements, are in debt or have dropped out of school.
While the Rotterdam Seaport Police have made hundreds of arrests of drug traffickers each year since 2020, there were only 83 arrests for transporting drugs between January and October of last year as a direct result of increased security at the port of Rotterdam.
At the same time, increased security in the Netherlands seems to have pushed drug traffickers into nearby countries. For example, of the 166 drug traffickers arrested in Antwerp in the first half of 2025, half were reported to have come from the Netherlands.
