{"id":42303,"date":"2026-09-01T21:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T21:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/42303\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T21:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T21:02:09","slug":"police-arrest-34-after-deadly-gang-shootout-in-eastern-netherlands-drugs-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/42303\/","title":{"rendered":"Police arrest 34 after deadly gang shootout in eastern Netherlands | Drugs News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article__subhead\">Several foreign suspects were among those arrested, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"avatar\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/author\/al_jazeera_staff_150119130629458\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2017-06-08T131939Z_1189275883_RC11B0FE7F20_RTRMADP_3_GULF-QATAR-JAZEERA-1714943623.jpg\"   aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Published On 1 Sep 20261 Sep 2026<\/p>\n<p>Dutch police have arrested \u206034 \u2060suspects after a drug-related shooting in a small town in the east of the country that left a security guard dead and two police officers injured.<\/p>\n<p>Jolanda Aalbers, head of the regional police, told reporters on Tuesday that a \u201clarge group\u201d of masked men had opened fire at 4am (02:00GMT) when police arrived at a house in Overasselt, a village near the German border, to investigate reports of suspicious activity.<\/p>\n<p>Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n<p>During the shootout, a 51-year-old security guard was killed while two of the officers arriving at the scene sustained injuries that were not life-threatening, Aalbers said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen the first police unit arrived at the scene, shots were fired immediately,\u201d the police chief said. \u201cThat was an incredibly traumatic incident. They had to rescue their colleagues and get them to safety. I have tremendous respect for what they did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Aalbers added that several weapons, data storage devices, and vehicles were seized at the scene.<\/p>\n<p>Among those arrested \u2060were suspects from the \u2060Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Algeria, according to regional prosecutors.<\/p>\n<p>They said that there were indications the shooting was connected to a \u201clong-running\u201d conflict, as the same house had \u2060been shot a dozen times in a single incident last \u2060year. Two people were convicted in that incident.<\/p>\n<p>Local media linked the incident to the criminal underworld of Dutch drug lord Jos Leijdekkers, also known as \u201cBolle Jos\u201d (\u201cFat Jos\u201d). One of the Netherlands\u2019 most wanted criminals, he was previously convicted for his role in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/1\/21\/europol-busts-europe-wide-drug-ring-in-largest-ever-op\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">international cocaine trafficking<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Dutch Minister of Justice and Security David van Weel said that police \u201cacted swiftly in response to the life-threatening situation in Overasselt, which involved an unprecedented number of people\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ministerjenv\/status\/2094809715721019706\" rel=\"nofollow\">post on X<\/a>, he noted that 34 arrests had been made and said \u201cthe investigation is still ongoing\u201d while condemning the \u201chorrific act of violence\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Several foreign suspects were among those arrested, according to prosecutors. Published On 1 Sep 20261 Sep 2026 Dutch&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[32,8956,18,6,131],"class_list":["post-42303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-netherlands","tag-crime","tag-drugs","tag-europe","tag-netherlands","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}