After the failed attempt to convict the Hells Angels as a criminal organization, the Justice Department does not want to make a second mistake with such an approach to motorcycle clubs. That is why members of the Moluccan motorcycle gang Satudarah will be dealt with individually for the time being. An exclusive look into the ongoing investigation into a Satudarah-affiliated drug cartel, with ramifications in Lithuania and Limburg.

B.E. is a very good lab technician who produces synthetic drugs for motorcycle club Satudarah. B.E. is completely under the protection of this motorcycle club. People take care of B. because he produces very good quality drugs. He is'full member' with the Satudarah and enjoys full protection of the club. He does not wear colors. B does business in narcotics with the brothers M." On the basis of these reports - recorded in an official report by the Criminal Intelligence Service of the Midden-West Brabant regional police force and the National Police Services Agency - in mid-May 2010, the national criminal investigation department began an investigation in the deepest secrecy. Code name: "Akutan. It should be an investigation that, at least outwardly, does not focus on the Moluccan motorcycle club Satudarah itself. But 'coincidentally' does focus on individual members of it. An apparently cautious approach. Justice seems to have learned a lesson from the debacle surrounding the prosecution of 22 Hells Angels in 2007. The Public Prosecutor (OM) tried to convict them at the time for being members of a criminal organization, in this case the motorcycle club. But these frantic attempts proved a bridge too far, quite apart from various formal errors that came to light at the time.

The Public Prosecutor's Office says it does not have a policy of arresting members of motorcycle gangs in particular, but does indicate that it looks with particular attention at the world of motorcycle clubs and suspicions that exist against its members. Something to do with the signals that there would be a gang war between the Hells Angels and their Moluccan rivals from Satudarah. Hence the arrest of Breda Satudarah members in connection with the alleged extortion of hotel and catering entrepreneurs last October. And subsequently the arrest of at least three Satudarah members from Tilburg on suspicion of their participation in a drug cartel, last November 30, can also be seen in the light of this "special interest" in motorcycle clubs. With the chasing of individual members, the net around the motorcycle club might yet close. So it is not surprising that the report about B.E. from Breda - arising from signals that surfaced in another drug investigation - set off all the alarm bells in the criminal investigation department in 2010.

Less than a year of wiretaps and observations later, more puzzle pieces seem to have fallen together. And it does seem that the prosecution is looking for similarities between the motorcycle club an sich and a criminal organization. Thus, suspect E.- according to the prosecution a member of MC Satudarah Southside in Tilburg - is seen as one of the pawns in a criminal gang named by the prosecution after Tilburger A.M., prominent member of Satudarah in that place. The prosecution assumes that M. manifests himself as the leader of that criminal group allegedly engaged in drug trafficking and money laundering practices: the criminal cooperation association M'(CSV M.), as the group is called in the Akutan investigation. Justice states that virtually all those involved in the 'CSV M.' are members of Satudarah. Moreover, the collaboration would make use of "the violent image of Satudarah," according to reliable sources. The Justice Department also suspects that the relationships within Satudarah are applicable to criminal relationships: the higher in the hierarchy within the motorcycle club, the less risk there is to be run.Hence, 'leader' A.M. would purely have meetings with various persons. He handles the 'business' part. The practical, more risky execution-for example, the dealing in raw materials for the production of synthetic drugs and the transfer of entire batches of those drugs-would be left to 'executors'; mostly club members lower down the ranks. Those executors would include Satudarah members B.E. and A.E. from Tilburg. The criminal syndicate around Satudarah man M., according to the justice department, also makes use of so-called 'facilitators': front men who offer their services in the form of storage of necessary raw materials and supply or import of the stuff from which the drugs are made. The Akutan investigation would show that suspects P. van der Z.-stepfather of Satudarah member B.E.-and one A.S. from Helmond belong to the latter category.A.S. has been trained as a pharmacist's assistant and is director of a one-man company based in Eindhoven that trades in chemicals for industry.

During one of the many observations made by police since 2010, B.E. and A.E. are seen reporting to the home of the chemicals dealer in Helmond. Empty jugs are also later found in the same director's car and a shed that still contain traces of the substance BMK, raw material for the production of synthetic drugs, such as amphetamine and xtc.

But there is more, for the partnership consisting of Satudarah members appears to be a puzzle piece in itself. At the National Criminal Investigation Department, in fact, more and more indications are seeping in about another crime syndicate that operates from the vicinity ofWeert, and transports drug raw materials from Lithuania to our country. In October 2010, by tapping telephones and chat conversations, it became clear that Satudarah member A.M. had maintained contacts with this Lithuanian group, which is named after one N.J. This Lithuanian regularly commutes between the Netherlands, England and his homeland, and maintains contacts with various buyers of the drug raw material BMK.

N.J. allegedly hired Lithuanians D.Z. and M.J., who live in Weert, to supply the stuff to customers. Information received through theCriminal Intelligence Service would indicate that D.Z. and his brother-in-law M.J., under N.J.'s direction, have been engaged in importing drug substances for years.

The cars they use for drug transports are rented through a garage in Weert, which must be aware of the criminal practices, according to reports that trickle in through anonymous informants. That there are contacts between the Lithuanian drug organization and the group affiliated with Satudarah members becomes clear on October 5 and October 13, 2010. In Tilburg, the "leaders" of the two groups, A.M. and N.J., appear to have a meeting then. Justice suspects that it is Satudarah member M. who then gave the order to receive large amounts of BMK from the hands of, among others, the Dutch Lithuanians D.Z. and M.J. at a carpool in Nederweert. Not much later police observers observe 'Satudarah-pion' A.E. and 'facilitator' P. van der Z. driving to Nederweert in a car rented by their 'leader'. That car is then taken over by the Lithuanians and brought back, presumably filled with cans full of what the Lithuanians themselves call 'A-oil': an anise-smelling transparent liquid, better known as BMK.

The car, which justice suspects is loaded withA oil, is later driven to a shed in Dongen, Brabant. A shed that turned out to be owned by P. van der Z. himself, but was also said to be in use by Satudarah member B.E.When justice entered the shed in question on the night of October 13 to 14, 2010, it was found to be full of chemicals. Upon further search, the prosecution finds substances intended for the manufacture of amphetamine, including BMK. A quantity of amphetamine is also seized.

This fact, as well as numerous other observed meetings and contacts between the Lithuanians and Satudarah members - including at the Satudarah clubhouse at the Havendijk in Tilburg, but also in the region of Weert - proved to be enough reason for the justice department to carry out early morning raids on November 30, 2011 with some 500 police officers in some twenty buildings, garages and sheds in the area of Weert, Breda, Tilburg, Eindhoven and Helmond. The show of force in the arrests is said to be necessary because the judiciary considers the chances of the eight suspects who are eventually apprehended being in danger of fleeing to be high. And in the case of the three motorcycle club members, the prosecution outlines that there is a danger that "the suspects within circles of the Satudarah MC will be kept out of sight of the police and judicial authorities.

Satudarah promoter A.M. is picked off the A2 freeway near Nieuwegein while driving his car. His entire administration is seized. In M.'s parental home, where he is officially registered, police find many branded watches and a blackjack. In Satudarah's clubhouse, police seize a bag of white powder, weed, bank statements, jammers (devices that can be used to jam police transmitters, for example, ed.), motorcycles and a slice of hash. At other locations linked to the suspects, police found weapons such as a rocket launcher, large amounts of cash and raw materials for the manufacture of synthetic drugs. N.J., alleged leader of the Lithuanian connection, is arrested at a hotel in Ospel on that Nov. 30. Justice charges the suspects with participation in a criminal organization, money laundering and large-scale drug trafficking. One of the eight suspects appears to have been released.Lawyer Serge Weening confirms that his client is free. He does not want to comment further on the content of the case, but according to him, the judge apparently found that there is already too little evidence to detain the Lithuanian any longer.

The big question becomes whether the Justice Department has enough evidence in its hands to convict the arrested motorcycle club members and perhaps prove a larger connection between the club and the illegal practices. As yet, the interrogations of the arrested men have yielded nothing. As is often the case in these kinds of circles, almost all of them apply the omerta; the great silence. A tactic that, ironically enough, the Hells Angels - Satudarah's supposed rivals - used to great effect in order to defeat the law.

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