AIVD: 'Criminal organisations also have their own secret services'
Criminal organizations have professional secret services that investigate who can harm their interests. This can involve competitors in crime, but also civil servants, politicians, journalists and lawyers. This is reported by the AIVD in its annual report for 2024. 'Drug criminals need information about who is threatening their trade.'

The AIVD states in its annual report that criminal networks that pose a threat to the national security of the Netherlands have 'far-reaching, professional capabilities' to gather information about people they see as a threat. According to the service, these can be criminal rivals, but increasingly also civil servants, politicians, journalists and lawyers.

Targets
According to the secret service, the skills of specialized criminal intelligence teams are comparable in some respects to those of investigation and security services. As are their technical capabilities: 'Using their own tracking teams and tracking equipment, they map out the home addresses, work addresses, places of residence and social networks of their targets. Sometimes they obtain information from government and corporate databases with personal data. To do so, they bribe employees or put them under pressure.'

In their work, criminals are always alert to investigative services. 'They try to discover, evade and shake them off in a professional manner. For example, they scan their surroundings using technical means. That makes it more difficult to recognize their activities - activities that sometimes affect national security.'

Interests
The fact that criminals have been able to specialize in gathering intelligence and preparing for (murder) attacks is due to the large scale of drug trafficking via the Netherlands. According to the AIVD, this ensures that Dutch criminal networks have larger interests to defend and that they have a structural need for information about potential threats to their trade.

https://www.crimesite.nl/aivd-criminele-organisaties-hebben-zelf-ook-geheime-diensten/