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Cannabis-cafes, where customers can drink coffee and smoke pot, are one of the Netherlands most popular attractions.
The southern city of Maastricht alone draws up to 2 million so-called 'drugs tourists' who flock to the city to do what they can't do at home.
But the Dutch soft-drugs policy has attracted another kind of visitor: international criminal gangs who control the narcotic supply lines and the dealers who who work the streets.
Plans to relocate half of Maastricht's 14 cannabis cafes to the outskirts in a bid to reduce drug crime have come under fire from neighbouring Belgium which accuses the Netherlands of exporting its drug problems.
The Belgium district of Voeren lies a few miles south of Maastricht.
Despite its sleepy facade, Voeren is a major crime hotspot - a problem which its mayor Huub Broers says is linked to drugs.
Broers is campaigning against the relocation of the coffeeshops.
"There will be even more criminality. Those who surround the coffee shops in the city centre will move with the coffee shops, so we will face even greater criminality. And that's what we are afraid of."
Last month, Voeren and neighbouring districts forced Maastricht to back down after winning a legal challenge.
Maastricht has now put forward a watered-down proposal to place two shops in a single coffee corner at its southern edge for a trial period of three years
The southern city of Maastricht alone draws up to 2 million so-called 'drugs tourists' who flock to the city to do what they can't do at home.
But the Dutch soft-drugs policy has attracted another kind of visitor: international criminal gangs who control the narcotic supply lines and the dealers who who work the streets.
Plans to relocate half of Maastricht's 14 cannabis cafes to the outskirts in a bid to reduce drug crime have come under fire from neighbouring Belgium which accuses the Netherlands of exporting its drug problems.
The Belgium district of Voeren lies a few miles south of Maastricht.
Despite its sleepy facade, Voeren is a major crime hotspot - a problem which its mayor Huub Broers says is linked to drugs.
Broers is campaigning against the relocation of the coffeeshops.
"There will be even more criminality. Those who surround the coffee shops in the city centre will move with the coffee shops, so we will face even greater criminality. And that's what we are afraid of."
Last month, Voeren and neighbouring districts forced Maastricht to back down after winning a legal challenge.
Maastricht has now put forward a watered-down proposal to place two shops in a single coffee corner at its southern edge for a trial period of three years
