So much, in fact, that drug traffickers in the Netherlands accumulated an estimated18,9 billion in revenuein 2017.
In comparison, thats more than Icelands gross national product.
In the Netherlands, about 200 million letters and packages are mailed each year.
It’s free, every week, in your inbox.
Another challenge to police detection is posed by Dutch law.
(Packages dont fall under this law, meaning postal services can open these under specific circumstances).
Long story short: mailing people drugs in the Netherlands is deadly easy.
Our goal is to become better at detecting illegal goods in postal items.
E-noses and high-tech swipes
Kuijpers is not trying to reinvent the wheel here.
His team is looking at technologies that already exist but arent yet used for this purpose.
But while theyre great for finding marijuana, they cannot detect synthetic drugs or firearms.
Another solution, swiping packages with special drug-detecting wipes, proved too effective.
So we encountered many false positives.
Self-learning X-ray
Kuijpers soon will try something new.
This gigantic machine runs deep learning software that becomes better at detecting objects over time.
The system can already catch weapons and explosives, says Kuijpers.
During this three-month pilot, we will be teaching it to identify synthetic drugs.
The real challenge lies in not slowing down the mail sorting process, he says.
Obviously, PostNL doesnt want people using their services for illegal stuff.
But at the same time, customers need their packages delivered as soon as possible.
So they need to put these detection systems to smarter use to not interfere with the supply chain.
Several startups, such asDynaxionin the Netherlands, are looking at neutron activation to better detect illegal substances.
This technology starts with bombarding packages and luggage with high-energy neutron particles.
It sounds a bit sci-fi, says Kuijpers.
According to Kuijpers, combining all these different technologies will have the most impact.
This level of accuracy is also needed to circumvent the broader issue of secrecy of correspondence.
Now that much crime has gone digital, the Dutch police need tech talent more than ever.
Check out thevarious tech jobsthey have to offer.
Story byAnouk Vleugels
As Publisher, Anouk is responsible for TNW’s overall media strategy.
