Police raid High Times Cannabis Cup expo in Amsterdam
About 100 Dutch police officers raided the High Times Cannabis Cup expo at the Borchland Sportcentrum on 23 November 2011, the first raid in the event's 24-year history, checking vendors against the 500-gram limit. One vendor was reported detained and released; small amounts of cannabis were confiscated.
On Wednesday 23 November 2011, about 100 Dutch police officers raided the
24th annual High Times Cannabis Cup expo at the Borchland Sportcentrum in
Amsterdam, separating hundreds of attendees from exhibitors to check vendors
against the 500-gram limit for licensed vendors under the Opium Act.[1][2]It was the first police raid in the Cup’s 24-year history.[1][2]
Detained vendor, friendly search
One vendor, Mila, was reported arrested and released over excess hash, though
other accounts say no arrests were made, and no attendees were reported
arrested in any account.[1][2][3]Small quantities of cannabis were
confiscated.[2]Officers had watched the expo in plain clothes the day
before after seeing booths give out cannabis, and the search itself was
described as gentle and polite, with participants told they were not its
target.[1][3]
The Cup’s concert and awards went ahead that night at the Melkweg club as
planned.[1][2]The raid was read as a show of force after conservatives took
power in the Netherlands and shut down cannabis tourism in the south of the
country.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
A cannabis grow with about 70 plants was dismantled on 11 November 2026 in a second-floor apartment at Aan de Vaart in Zaandam. The plants were shredded on site and growing equipment was removed, and no one was arrested.
Police found 1,000 cannabis plants in a business unit on the Bakkenzuigerstraat on the Poldervlak industrial estate in Almere Buiten during a municipal inspection on Thursday 5 November 2026. No one had been arrested, police opened an investigation, and the plants were to be destroyed.
Police found 187 young cannabis plants in a house on the Hofmark in Almere Haven, where electricity had been tapped illegally. The nursery was dismantled, the plants destroyed, and the specialist cannabis team opened an investigation into those behind it.
On the morning of 28 October 2026 police entered a building on the Molenwerf industrial estate in Uitgeest and found more than 200 cannabis plants and more than 60 cuttings. They said the power had been tapped illegally and that the plants would be destroyed. No one was arrested.
