Large police controls in Euregio: Drugs and Heroin ensured!

Large police controls in Euregio: Drugs and Heroin ensured!

On March 20, 2023, a comprehensive control mission took place in the Aachen Region, in which a total of 20 authorities worked with more than 470 emergency services. These operated not only in the districts of Düren, Heinsberg and Euskirchen, but also close to the border in the Netherlands and Belgium. The federal police as well as the police headquarters in Aachen and Cologne, the district police authorities of the aforementioned districts, the main customs office in Aachen, Politie Limburg and Koninklijken Marechaussee from the Netherlands as well as various police zones and customs authorities from Belgium, such as the federal police and the Liège Autobahn police. Heinsberg magazine reports that the main goal of this measure was to combat unauthorized entry and smuggling crime.

Some violations were found during the controls. This included a low double-digit number of violations of the Residence Act, several cases of driving without a license, including an arrest warrant against a 36-year-old man from the Czech Republic, as well as drug possession, including 0.68 grams of cocaine. In addition, violations of the Consumer Cannabis Act and the Medicines Act were documented. The successful measures included ensuring 1 kilogram of heroin worth around 40,000 euros at the Aachen-Land rest area, as well as the arrest of two people after a chase trip near Verviers.

cooperation between the authorities

The professional and cross-country cooperation between the different authorities is a decisive factor in combating crime in the Euregio Maas-Rhein. Over 4 million people live in this region, which makes the relevance of such common missions clear. The measures are not only focused on combating drugs and alcohol offices, but also on increasing security in cross-border traffic through customs controls. These operations are particularly important in view of the challenges, migration management and securing the external borders for the EU. European Parliament points out that the number of illegal border excesses at the EU external borders in 2015 to 200,000 2021 has dropped.

In order to combat these developments, the EU has taken various measures, including the creation of new instruments and agencies, such as the Schengen information system and the European agency for the border and coast guard (Frontex). These initiatives are intended to increase efficiency in processing asylum applications and security at the external borders. Another step in this direction was the adoption of the budget for the fund for integrated border management (IBMF) in 2021, which is equipped with 9.88 billion euros and is to improve the capacity of the Member States.

Overall, the control operations in the Aachen region shows both the necessity and the effectiveness of close cooperation between the authorities involved in order to combat cross -border crime and to increase security in the region.