Aboutaleb: checking all buildings for drug labs is impossible; Schammenkamp explosion

It is impossible to check all premises in Rotterdam for drug laboratories. This is what the mayor of the port city, Ahmed Aboutaleb, said on Friday evening in the program "In Gesprek Met" on TV Rijnmond. He was responding to questions raised by the city council following the explosion and fire on the Schammenkamp, in which three people died last week.

"I'm afraid we are largely dependent on signals from citizens," Aboutaleb told the news channel. "They have the ears and eyes and, in this case, the noses. It is impossible - even if the municipality wanted to - to physically inspect all premises in Rotterdam regularly. I will answer the council's questions. I am also curious as to how the council sees this for itself, to carry out more checks.”

Around 5,000 kilos of fireworks were legally stored in the vicinity of the explosion site. Several parties in the city council expressed concerns about this. Aboutaleb: "It was stored there safely, but you read in research reports that opinions are changing and that experts are saying that you should no longer do this in residential areas. I would like to have a conversation about that."

The mayor does not believe that the neighborhood where the explosion occurred, which may have been caused by the presence of a drug lab, is unsafe. "I don’t agree that this is a bad neighborhood," Aboutaleb said. "When something like this happens, feeling unsafe is always an issue. It also has to do with the psychological processing of such an event."