Dutch and German police arrested five suspects in an investigation into a suspected money-laundering network, including a 55-year-old man from Rotterdam who was arrested in Eindhoven and is suspected of acting as an underground banker. Four German men aged 43 to 59 were also arrested. Searches on 7 October took place in Eindhoven, Rotterdam, Sliedrecht and Zwijndrecht, as well as at about 40 locations in several German states.

Investigators suspect the group of moving tens of millions of euros in criminal money, believed to be drug proceeds, to Turkey each year by buying gold, smuggling it there and converting it into jewellery. Police seized about €10,000 in cash, a vehicle and real estate in the Netherlands; in Germany they seized real estate valued at at least €2 million, 19 vehicles, about €100,000 in cash, and gold and silver bars. A single report said the investigation estimated that one to four tonnes of gold, worth €55 million to €210 million, had been smuggled to Turkey over six years.