Two held over tainted egg scam in Holland

THE HAGUE: Dutch investigators arrested two suspects on Thursday in connection with a probe into the discovery of fipronil insecticide in European eggs, prosecutors said.

"It relates to two managers at the company that allegedly used the substance (fipronil) at poultry farms," spokeswoman Marieke van der Molen said, with Dutch media naming the suspects’ company as Chickfriend.

The arrests came after coordinated raids with Belgian authorities at eight locations across The Netherlands with the assistance of Europe’s policing and judicial agencies Europol and Eurojust.

"The Dutch investigation focused on the Dutch company that allegedly used fipronil, a Belgian supplier as well as a Dutch company that colluded with the Belgian supplier," prosecutors said. "They are suspected of putting public health in danger by supplying and using fipronil in pens containing egg-laying chickens," a statement said. The two men were arrested in central and southern Netherlands in the towns of Barneveld and Zaltbommel. Police also searched homes in nearby Bergen op Zoom and Uden as well as a storage shed in Ede and two undisclosed locations. Investigators confiscated paperwork, as well as cars, banking details, and fixed assets.