Sources tie 2 victims to cocaine washing facility that likely caused Rotterdam explosion

A cocaine-washing facility likely caused the explosion in a Rotterdam apartment building on Schammenkamp that killed three people, sources told the Telegraaf. The sources also linked two of the victims to the drug lab located in a business premises rented by 34-year-old Rotterdam resident Jalal O.

The explosion happened around 8:30 p.m. on January 29, causing part of the complex to collapse and a large fire. Three people were buried under the rubble. Their bodies were recovered in the days after the blast.

According to the newspaper’s sources, two of the victims - 22-year-old Ilias and 33-year-old Mustapha - may have been engaged in the chemical process of washing cocaine from unknown products when the explosion happened. Jalal O., Ilias’s uncle, left the building 40 minutes before the blast.

The third victim, 43-year-old Kamran Kahn, was on a video call with a client in his bathroom company, Moosa Bouw, when the explosion happened. The Telegraaf’s sources say he knew nothing about the illegal activities happening next door.

The Rotterdam police would not confirm the sources’ information to the Telegraaf. “We are currently conducting an extensive investigation. While securing trace evidence, we came across various substances related to the production of narcotics. Based on this information, we arrested a 34-year-old Rotterdam resident. We are still investigating whether the items found could be the cause of the explosion,” a police spokesperson said.

According to the Telegraaf’s sources, the substances the police found were barrels of acetone and hydrochloric acid - highly flammable substances used in cocaine washing facilities. “They need those solvents to extract the cocaine that is impregnated into articles in South America. That is done via a specific recipe,” Jorrit van den Berg, a narcotic drugs expert at the Dutch Forensic Institute (NFI), explained to the newspaper. “They have to play with the acidity to extract the cocaine. It all depends on good ventilation. Due to the use of highly flammable agents, there must be good ventilation so that the vapors in the air do not ignite.”

Strange smells often lead the authorities to cocaine-washing facilities. A week before the Rotterdam explosion, on January 21, the police and fire department responded to the Schammenkamp building due to reports of a strange smell. But their measurements found nothing suspicious.

Jalal O. is still in restricted custody, which means that he is only allowed contact with his lawyer. The Telegraaf’s sources said this was his first run-in with the law. Ilias and Mustapha also had no criminal records, they said.