
But did they get the criminals too?
See, I see one small problem with all this: Dutch law forbids the local police from staging criminal activities. If a lawyer can argue that a criminal committed a crime because he got lured into it by the local police then such cases would be thrown out of the courtroom.
So I can't help wonder to what extend all of that would apply here. Of course I'm aware that most information they collected probably involves foreigners and it remains to be seen that those will actually be tried under Dutch law (seems more likely that law enforcement of the local country gets involved). Still.. I can't help wonder what the aftermath of all this will be.
Considering what you usually get to read about these guys in the local papers it wouldn't surprise me at all if this action made the headlines for now, and 3 months later we'll read on page 10 in the paper how they never managed to arrest and/or convict any actual criminals. So basically sending out a clear message that "Don't worry guys, even if the police operates the stuff then you're still safe!".
Only time will tell I suppose.