Customs director fought for years against ruthless gangs: ‘Parties of cocaine flew around us’

As a very young border guard he took smuggled cigarettes out of the barrel of a Leopard tank, as an experienced hand he fought in the port of Rotterdam against ruthless drug criminals. But after almost half a century at customs, regional director Jan Kamp (66) is calling it a day. He will miss them, the colleagues, the containers and the coke catches.