Brussels, 09/07/2010 (Agence Europe) - Nine people have been arrested in the Netherlands in connection with wide-ranging fraud among farmers, Eurojust, The Hague-based European judicial cooperation agency, announced on Friday 9 July. Investigations have been continuing in seven other European countries - Poland, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Belgium, Denmark, France and Switzerland - and money has been seized, Eurojust says. Those arrested, a group of farmers from North Brabant and Limburg, are major suppliers of strawberries, raspberries, asparagus, mushrooms and other fruits and vegetables. They sell the harvest on paper to a fictitious company, which arranges for Polish workers to be used illegally to harvest the produce in the Netherlands. The harvest is then auctioned and delivered to consumers. In this way, the fraudsters have been able to cheat the Dutch Treasury and Social Security of tens of millions of euro. The nine people arrested have been charged with money laundering, false papers and membership of a criminal organisation. (B.C./transl.rt)