Three men who were found dead in a drug lab in Eksel in Belgium on Tuesday are all from the Netherlands. Two came from Eindhoven, the third from Valkenswaard, the Belgian Public Prosecutor confirmed to Omroep Brabant.
Belgian newspaper Belang van Limburg reports that the three men were in their early 20's. The Belgian authorities believe they died in their sleep after breathing toxic fumes.
Three people were found dead in a shed in the Belgian town of Eksel, about 15 kilometers across the border from Weert, early on Tuesday morning. The shed was set up as a drug lab. The Belgian emergency services responded to the shed on Kiefhoekstraat after the local brigade got a tip about a strange smell from someone calling from Eindhoven, AD reports.
How the victims died is not yet clear. The fire brigade is taking measurements and samples that will be analyzed by a judicial laboratory and specialized firms.
The police are working on dismantling a massive drug lab in a residential area of Rijen, Noord-Brabant. The lab was discovered earlier this week in the buildings and cellars of a former tannery. "This was very dangerous. A lot of chemicals, thousands and thousands of liters, if they come into contact with each other, anything can happen. Ranging from a chemical reaction to a spontaneous ignition. That is thus life-threatening for the nearby houses", police spokesperson Eric Passchier said to NOS.
The police discovered a "production site for narcotics" in a home on Ophoven in Sittard after there was a fire in the building on Monday evening. The police believe that the home was used to produce and dry cocaine, but further investigation is currently impossible due to the instability of the building. No arrests have been made, the police said in a statement.
Dutch drug criminals are increasingly involved in making crystal meth. Over the past year, 10 crystal meth laboratories were dismantled in the Netherlands. "A few years ago, we hardly ever saw it", a police spokesperson said to NRC, calling 2018 a "turning point" in the production of meth.
The police raided an amphetamine lab on a plot on Elsendorpseweg in the Noord-Brabant town of Elsendorp on Tuesday evening. Five people were arrested by a SWAT team, Brabants Dagblad reports.
The suspects are four men and a woman, found at the lab. They were taken to a police station for questioning.
The raid happened around 9:00 p.m. The police are investigating.
Criminal organizations have approached 15 percent of Dutch farmers to offer them money in exchange for free-standing sheds or stalls so that a drug lab can be built there, Trouw reports based on a poll conducted by Geleen Consultancy.
The number of farmers approached by criminals in this way may well be higher, as some may be afraid to admit this. The police believe the number may be as high as 3 out of 5 farmers, according to the newspaper.
A Dutch-Polish drug gang was busted in a combined effort by the Dutch, Polish and German police. The Dutch police raided multiple places in the south of the Netherlands on April 16th and 17th and arrested seven suspects. Another seven suspects were arrested in Poland. They are all suspected of being part of a criminal organization involved in drug trafficking and dealing in chemicals intended for the production of synthetic drugs, the police said on Friday.
Crime in Amsterdam fell by 5 percent in 2017 compared to the year before. There were fewer cases of pickpockets, muggings, and violent threats, but the number of home burglaries and robberies increased. Nationwide crime is steadily declining, according to figures the National Police will publish on Thursday, the Volkskrant reports.
Two men were found dead in an active drug lab in the garden of a Kaatsheuvel home on Friday afternoon. The two 48-year-old men from Kaatsheuvel died from carbon monoxide poisoning, the police announced.
The involved home is located on Prins Marutisplein, according to Omroep Brabant. Emergency services tried to resuscitate the two men, but it was to no avail. Another man and a woman were taken to hospital to be checked over. The 21-year-old man is the resident of the home. He was arrested for questioning after he was cleared by the hospital.
A drug lab was found in a garage behind a home on Brederolaan in Etten-Leur on Monday morning. Two people, a man and a woman, were arrested, a police spokesperson confirmed to NU.nl.
A large hole was dug into the floor of the garage, according to BN De Stem. Local residents told the newspaper that this hole was a recent addition - a container of sand was recently driven away. Exactly what the hole was used for, is not clear.
The police arrested a 45-year-old man from Eindhoven on Thursday following the discovery of a large number of firearms in a storage box in the city. The man rented the storage box in which the weapons were found.
The weapons were discovered during an investigation into a drug lab the police dismantled on Heydaalweg in Eindhoven on July 7th. The drug lab was located in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Two suspects were arrested that same day, suspected of involvement in the drug lab. Over 200 thousand ecstasy pills were found in the home.
The police dismantled a drug lab in a residential area of Geldrop, Noord-Brabant on Wednesday. The resident of the house was caught in the act of producing ecstasy pills in a shed behind his house when the police raided the property. The man, his wife and his son were all arrested, the police said in a statement.
Officers found 18 thousand ecstasy pills and 20 kilograms of MDMA, which is used in drug production, on the property. Another 10 kilos of ecstasy was found in a garage box used for storage.
A drug lab for producing Captagon pills was discovered in a raid in Brunssum, Limburg. Captagon contains amphetamine and caffeine and is a popular drug among combatant groups in the Middle East, where it is used as an 'upper' to keep fighters awake and alert, according to the Telegraaf.
Two leading members of motorcycle gang No Surrender were arrested in SWAT team raids in The Hague and Pijnacker early on Tuesday morning. They were arrested in connection with an attempted assassination in Ridderkerk in November last year, the Telegraaf reports.
Drug criminals seem to be moving their activities from the southern parts of the Netherlands to the rest of the country, especially when it comes to ecstasy, the police concluded from the latest figures on ecstasy, RTL Nieuws reports.
On Thursday morning the police and tax investigative authority FIOD raided a warehouse on Industrieweg in Nieuwegein. Inside the authorities found raw materials for the establishment of a drug lab, AD reports.
The police also found a large quantity of bags containing potassium carbonate and a number of colored barrels with unknown content, according to the newspaper. As far as is known, no arrests were made.
An employee of a car dealership across the street told AD that the warehouse had been empty for some time.
Former CDA treasurer in Leende Wim van der P. was remanded into custody for at least another month by the court in Den Bosch on Thursday. He is suspected of involvement in a massive drug lab found in a building on his property last month, the Telegraaf reports.
CDA treasurer in Leende Wim van der P. denies that he is involved with a major drug lab discovered in a warehouse at his home last week. On Wednesday the 51-year-old man said that he rented the warehouse out and that he is just as shocked and surprised by the discovery of the drug lab as everyone else, ANP reports.
The main suspect arrested in connection with a large drug lab discovered in the Brabant town of Leende last week was identified as Wim van der P., according to newspaper AD. Until last week Friday he was treasurer of the CDA faction Heeze Leende Sterksel.
Carnival group De Lolmaakers in Leende decided not to participate in this year's carnival parades on Saturday. On Thursday the police discovered a massive drug lab on the property where they were building their float. As they are not allowed on the crime scene, De Lolmakers won't be able to finish their float in time for the parade.
Stinky white smoke curling from a chimney led to the discovery of an ecstasy lab in Eindhoven on Sunday.
Passersby noticed the smoke on Rapenlandstraat and called the police around 10:00 a.m. Officers and firefighters agreed that the smelly smoke was suspicious and decided to search the building. Inside they found a large ecstasy lab in "full operation", according to the police. No one was in the building while it was searched.
What the police describe as a "professional drug lab" was discovered in the stables of an abandoned farming business in the Noord-Brabant town of Maarheeze on Wednesday. A 46-year-old man was arrested.
Three men were arrested after a fire in a drug lab in Son en Breugel on Friday afternoon.
