Cops Bust Drug Dealer On Benefits Driving Purple Lambo

Story ByKoen BerghuisSub EditorJoseph GolderAgencyCEN

An unemployed man on benefits has been arrested for drug dealing and money laundering after he was spotted driving around in a purple Lamborghini.

The 34-year-old man, whose name is not reported due to privacy laws, was seen showing off in the sports car on the streets of the city of Gorinchem in the province of South Holland in the western Netherlands.

Officials became suspicious after receiving reports of the man in his car as he is registered as unemployed and is receiving social benefits.

Pictures Credit: CEN/Politie Lek en Merwede & CEN

An investigation by multiple agencies, including the police, the local authority and the tax office, found the man had multiple bank accounts containing large amounts of money.

As well as the luxurious Lamborghini, he also had a BMW 7-series and a Ford Transit van registered in his name.

And when cops raided the man’s house they discovered an illegal cannabis plantation hidden inside one of the rooms.

Police arrested the man on suspicion of money laundering and illegal cannabis cultivation. They also seized his cars and his cannabis plants.

A 20-year-old woman, who was in the house at the time of the raid, has also been arrested.

Illegal home cannabis plantations and production of drugs such as ecstasy are a major problem across the Netherlands, especially in the south of the country.

As well as the violence of the drugs gangs, the authorities are also concerned about the social and environmental problems connected with cannabis cultivation.

Illegal cannabis plantations at people’s houses are often shoddily constructed and pose major fire risks while toxic waste from home ecstasy production is often dumped into the nature by criminals.

Cannabis is ‘tolerated’ for consumers in the Netherlands but commercial production is forbidden under Dutch anti-drugs laws, while harder drugs, such as ecstasy, are illegal.