A van heading toward Amsterdam lost control on a highway outside Avenhorn, about 20 miles north of Amsterdam, during the morning commute on Friday 2 March 2007.[1] Witnesses saw it hit a barrier, flip and clip another car before coming to rest, and the two occupants ran from the wreck.[1] Packages of hashish lay scattered around the area, with hundreds more stacked on wooden pallets inside the van.[1]
Police put the load at about 3,000 kilograms of hashish, which Dutch authorities incinerated the same day.[1][2] One wire account valued the cargo at $20 million, while other versions put it at C$23.5 million and 15 million euros.[1][2] Police spokesman Hielke Vogelzang said detectives were hunting the driver and a passenger and tracing the van’s owner, which he said may have been stolen or leased.[1] It was not known whether the occupants were injured, and no arrests at the scene were reported.[1]
Tolerance paradox
Marijuana and hashish are technically illegal in the Netherlands, but police do not arrest people for small amounts under the tolerance policy, and licensed shops sell cannabis they have no legal way to buy.[1]
