The Grass Company is a company in North Brabant, Netherlands that operates four coffeeshops in the cities of 's-Hertogenbosch and Tilburg. The Grass Company was the first company to open a coffeeshop in the south of the Netherlands combining cannabis sales with restaurants.
Police raids After a raid in 2011, the police reported finding 15,000 joints and eight kilos of hemp in a distribution center of the chain.Burgemeester Noordanus: "Inval Grass Company was toevalstreffer", Omroep Brabant, 6 September 2011 According to the shop's lawyer, this was 250 grams.Advocaat Grass Company over inval Tilburg: 'Dit is een oorlogsverklaring aan de goede coffeeshops', Omroep Brabant, 22 May 2013 The shop was not prosecuted and two employees were found guilty with no sentence. The court thereby approved the presence of two day stocks for the four coffee shops.Coffeeshop Grass Company niet vervolgd voor wietvondst, 9 November 2012Rechter: geen straf voor bevoorraders coffeeshops Grass Company Den Bosch, 29 October 2013 In May 2013, the company was the subject of an investigation into black money.Burgemeester Noordanus: Taskforce-actie Tilburg was geen aanval op coffeeshops, Omroep Brabant, 23 May 2013 On July 4, 2014, raids took place in twenty buildings, including the four coffee shops and the TGC Trading office. One of the coffee shops was closed for six months because there were 7.5 kilograms of soft drugs in the building.Gemeente Den Bosch sluit coffeeshop The Grass Company, Omroep Brabant, 5 July 2014
Case against founder Johan van Laarhoven On July 14, 2014, the Netherlands requested the Thai authorities to cooperate in an investigation against The Grass Company founder and former owner Johan van Laarhoven, who had been living in Thailand since 2008. The Thai police responded to this with the arrest of Van Laarhoven and his Thai wife. In Thailand, Van Laarhoven was sentenced to 103 years in prison for money laundering the money earned from the coffee shop, of which he must serve 20. His wife was also sentenced to prison. MPs from D66, PvdA, SP, GroenLinks, Party for the Animals, Group Bontes / Van Klaveren, 50Plus, fraction Houwers and fraction Klein asked parliamentary questions about the case and the role of the Netherlands in the arrest of Van Laarhoven.Antwoord op Kamervragen, officiëlebekendmakingen.nl. Accessed 25 August 2019 Attorney Gerard Spong and former Spuiten en Slikken presenter made efforts to ensure his release. The National Ombudsman also wrote a critical report. In April 2019, justice minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus promised to make an effort to bring Van Laarhoven to the Netherlands.Hoop voor Johan van Laarhoven? Minister Grapperhaus gaat zich inzetten voor terugkeer, omroepbrabant.nl, 25 April 2019 In August of that year, Grapperhaus traveled to Thailand to negotiate with the Thai authorities.Grapperhaus: Thailand bereid te werken aan oplossing in zaak Van Laarhoven, ad.nl, 23 August 2019Van Laarhoven vanuit cel: 'Grapperhaus meer oog voor gerechtigheid dan departement', nporadio1.nl, 23 August 2019 In January 2020, Van Laarhoven was handed over to the Netherlands to serve the rest of the sentence in the Netherlands (a petition for pardon was filed for this) and for prosecution in the Netherlands for tax fraud and money laundering. Cases against van Laarhoven for fraud and laundering were dropped in late 2024.
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