No hard evidence of 'needle spiking' in bars; Schiphol boss will answer for airport chaos in Tweede Kamer

Former alderman Jos van Rey will return to the council of Roermond on behalf of the Liberal People’s Party Roermond, announced formateur Dirk Franssen on Friday. In 2017, Van Rey was banned from working in the government for two years after being convicted of corruption, ballot fraud, leaking confidential information and money laundering.

Reports of so-called “needle spiking” have been growing in the Netherlands in recent weeks, along with England, France and Belgium. Some bars are taking action, but police say there is not much that can be done aside from increasing security, according to the NOS.

Schiphol CEO Dick Benschop will go to the Tweede Kamer on Tuesday to discuss the enormous crowds at the airport. He was invited by VVD and PvdA. 

“A lot goes wrong at Schiphol, but we hear very little from the boardroom,” said VVD member Daniel Koerhuis, who says he wants to ask the questions that “everyone has now.”

In just a year, the number of forged documents that asylum seekers present during their applications shot up from 173 to 320. The 2021 annual figures show most asylum seekers using these documents were from Syria, Yemen, Turkey and Afghanistan, according to De Telegraaf.