Belgium and the Netherlands swap land – because it 'makes sense' | World news | The Guardian
Quote:
Over time, the area was rumoured to be increasingly lawless, a haven for drug dealers and illicit sexual escapades. Then, three years ago, passersby discovered a headless body. “They alerted Dutch authorities, who told them it was Belgian territory,” said Jean-Francois Duchesne, police commissaire of the Lower Meuse region.
In short, the Dutch could not go there because it was Belgian, and Belgian police and judicial authorities found it tough to get there. They are not allowed to cross into the Netherlands without permission and the peninsula had no proper landing zone for boats or equipment coming in by water.
“So we had to go there by boat with all that was needed — the prosecutor, the legal doctor, the judicial lab — we had to do round trips over the water. It really was not very practical,” Duchesne said.
And beyond that, Neven remembered: “You had to jump from the boat on to the shore. You needed to be in shape for this.”
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So all this because the Belgian cops don't want to jump from a boat.
