The municipality of Coevorden appears to be a popular destination for producers of synthetic drugs. A drug lab was found three times in a year and a half, twice in Holsloot. Mayor Renze Bergsma does not exclude that more will follow.
“Every drug lab is a shock, I’m very glad we tracked it down,” says the mayor, who wants to close the building as soon as the police investigation is completed. “It is a great danger to people and the environment. When something like this explodes, you don’t know what will happen. And it is also just major crime, organized crime.”
Around noon yesterday, the attention of neighbor Marjan de Jong was drawn. “There were a lot of cars, bells and whistles were not too bad, but then you go and have a look and you see that everything is wrong.”
It was not immediately clear to De Jong what exactly was going on. She later learned that a drug lab was found, full of chemicals, kettles and burners. A 40-year-old man from Coevorden and seven other suspects are being arrested for possible involvement.
“Of course you don’t expect something like that,” she says. “We were just neighbours, we didn’t have much contact. It was just saying ‘hello’.” It is the second time in a year and a half that a drug lab has been dismantled in the Eldijk street. “I don’t really have a shocking feeling, I still feel very safe at home. But it is typical that it is happening more and more here in the North,” the neighbor responds.
Mayor Bergsma does have a suspicion why Holsloot is chosen by drug makers. “It is a bit afterwards where not many people come. But we also focus on that. We also want to make people who live in that area alert, explain what they can do if they notice something, where they can report. “
Because the drug lab discovered yesterday is probably not the last lab to be found. “We should not be naive, they are also here in the municipality of Coevorden,” says Bergsma. “If they are there, we also want to find them. So that is why it is a priority for the municipality, the police and the Public Prosecution Service to detect and tackle them.”