The police discovered a large crystal meth lab on a cargo river boat in Moerdijk on Friday afternoon. The boat turned out to be booby-trapped. While the police were raiding it on Friday night, the boat suddenly started sinking.
A total of four men were arrested, three of whom are from Mexico. So far the police said nothing about the suspects' backgrounds, but according to De Telegraaf they may be tied to a Mexican drug cartel.
Last week customs officers found crystal meth and ketamine at a transport company in De Lier. The drugs were hidden in a shipment of frozen chicken drumsticks, which were on their way to England, the Public Prosecutor said in a statement.
The discovery was made on April 17th. A 32-year-old man from Amsterdam was arrested on suspicion of involvement in drug trafficking and money laundering. He was arraigned earlier this week and remanded into custody for another two weeks.
There was a striking increase in the use of methamphetamine, more popularly known as crystal meth, in Amsterdam last year, according to the annual study of waste water in European cities by the European Agency for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), the Telegraaf reports.
For the study, the sewage water of various European cities are tested for drug residue. The Dutch cities of Amsterdam, Eindhoven and Utrecht are part of the study.
A couple from Houten was killed in a serious accident on the A44 near Nieuw-Vennep on Saturday. A third person was seriously hurt. The man suspected of causing the accident, a 32-year-old man from Oestgeest, was under the influence of alcohol and drugs at the time. He fled the scene of the accident on foot, but was later caught by the police.
Cocaine use in the cities of Utrecht and Eindhoven increased significantly over the past year, according to the European agency for drugs and drug addiction EMCDDA based on a study on drugs in the sewage of cities, ANP reports.
In Utrecht the amount of cocaine residue found in the sewage was twice as high as last year. According to the researchers' calculations, about half a kilo of cocaine is used in the city each day. In Eindhoven that number is slightly higher.
Crystal meth is becoming increasingly popular in the Netherlands, especially among homosexuals. The drug is getting cheaper, and with the falling price, the use increases.
