The Hague region – 126 convicts who tried to evade the sentence imposed on them were arrested in 2023 by the so-called EVA team (Execution of Sentenced Persons) of the The Hague police unit. In total, these convicts must serve 179 years in prison and pay more than two million euros in outstanding fines.
Compared to previous years, the number of years of imprisonment that the arrested convicts still had outstanding is considerably higher. For example, in 2022 it was still 134 years, in 2021 it was 142 years and in 2020 it was 82 years.
Striking arrests
Among the arrested convicts was a 31-year-old man who had been arrested abroad for various crimes. He still had to serve 1,832 days in prison and was arrested in The Hague on August 24. That month, the EVA team also arrested a 67-year-old man who had been sentenced to 838 days in prison by the Court of Appeal in The Hague. He was arrested in Zoetermeer at the beginning of August. More about these two arrests can be found in an earlier message.
Two other high-profile arrests involved a 57-year-old man sentenced to six years in prison for cocaine trafficking and a 46-year-old man sentenced to 656 days in prison for theft, assault and terrorist financing. The 57-year-old man was arrested on the A4 in early June, the 46-year-old man in Leiden in early June. More about these two arrests can also be found in an earlier message.
The arrested convicts also included a 52-year-old man who was sentenced to 2,934 days in prison for sexual exploitation and sexual assault of children, child pornography and fraud. He was arrested in Rijswijk on October 17. A final example concerns the arrest of a 31-year-old man who was sentenced to 1,326 days in prison in connection with opium law offenses and being a member of a criminal organization. The EVA team arrested this man in Leidschendam. You can read more about these two arrests in this earlier post.
The EVA Team
For the The Hague police unit, the EVA Team is actively involved in the investigation and arrest of convicts who try to evade their imposed sentence. Convictions for robberies, home burglaries and street robberies have priority for the EVA Team in the investigation of identified persons, but a convicted person can also count on a visit from the EVA Team in the case of compensation measures or fines imposed.
Information source: Politie.nl
