A spokesman for the Ministry of Security and Justice tells Trouw that a pilot has started in the port of Rotterdam. It concerns a special kind of VOG (Statement of Behavior) for which tens of thousands of employees must eventually qualify.
‘Haven-vog’
Those who now want to work in the port of Rotterdam often have to be able to provide a normal VOG. With the so-called ‘haven-vog’, the judiciary wants to look very specifically at cases that are relevant to drug smuggling, writes Trouw.
“The current vog is inadequate, while the AIVD screening is very complex,” said Bas Janssen, director of the Rotterdam business organization Deltalinqs against the newspaper.
“There is too big a gap in between. With a special VOG you can take a closer look at the background of employees with a vital function in the port and do so periodically.”
“Cutting a hole in the fence is no longer an option, it is almost always done with help from the inside,” says public prosecutor Loes van der Wees to the newspaper. With the help of drivers from transport companies or port employees, criminals obtain access passes and thus drugs.
Screening AIVD
The Ministry of Justice is also investigating whether the AIVD can conduct an even stricter screening of port employees with crucial jobs, such as planners. The intelligence and security service is already doing this for customs employees at Schiphol.
The plan to roll out something like this in the port of Rotterdam has been around for some time.
