MAASTRICHT - The busting of a criminal gang of violent drug runners has dealt a blow to the drug trade in and around Maastricht. According to Mayor Gerd Leers, it is special that the organization has been tackled down to the capillaries.The National Criminal Investigation Department and the Limburg-Zuid regional police on Wednesday arrested eight men and two women who are suspected of forming a violent drug gang. This was revealed yesterday. Mayor Leers says he is pleased that now the people behind the drug runners have been apprehended. "Drug runners are ready by the dozen. But now the police have penetrated the capillaries of the organization. That's a serious blow to the big guys." The suspects are believed to have been operating in South Limburg for months selling heroin and cocaine to French drug tourists. When these customers do not volunteer, people are aggressively approached by the drug runners. This creates dangerous situations on the A2 in particular. Drug runners wait for their customers in parking lots with extinguished lights and they engage in tailgating. Drug runners hang out of cars, tapping into side windows. In July, French tourists were violently robbed.

Both police forces discovered that drug deliveries came from Rotterdam. The drugs were mostly brought to South Limburg by public transport and stored at addresses in Maastricht and Meerssen. The core of those arrested consists of three brothers of Moroccan origin. The eldest, a 27-year-old Rotterdam man, is considered the main suspect. The other suspects are from Rotterdam, Dordrecht, Maastricht and Meerssen.

Leers says the crackdown in Maastricht is starting to lead to increasing nuisance in places like Sittard-Geleen and Heerlen. "There they are starting to squeal. I have said that now as a region we have to push forward, otherwise you keep moving the nuisance within the region."