At the house on Scheidingsweg near New Amsterdam, where a drug lab was found in the night from Friday to Saturday, there was also a hemp nursery where 750 cannabis plants were grown in the past.
That says police spokesman Renate Winkel. The nursery in the hamlet of Barger-Erfscheidveen was no longer in operation when the police raided it last weekend. The lab, which was in a barn in the yard, was.
The 54-year-old resident of the house who was arrested on the spot is still detained. He is being interrogated. On Tuesday he will be brought before the examining magistrate (investigating judge, ed.) of the District Court of the Northern Netherlands. He must determine whether the man will be detained longer. The police investigation is still ongoing.
More arrests possible
Drug labs typically involve several people. Criminals often come from elsewhere in the Netherlands to produce drugs in remote places in the quieter north. The ‘cooks’, who risk their lives in the self-built labs, are regularly brought in from abroad. In this case, the police do not rule out the possibility that more people will be arrested, says Winkel.
It is not yet clear which drug was made. Winkel: “We have found various raw materials, which we are having examined. It may take a while before we have a definite answer on that.”
The 54-year-old suspect was also arrested 26 years ago. Then an illegal money printer and thousands of counterfeit 100 guilder notes were found in a sea container near his house.