An odor of acetone, a chemical smell: that’s what local residents smelled in the summer of 2019 near a house on Veerweg in Anna Paulowna. Six months later, a drug laboratory was busted at that location. It turned out that amphetamine was being produced on a large scale. Three men from Badhoevedorp are suspects in the case. But all three say they know nothing.
The Public Prosecution Service does not believe that the men are innocent. The three, twin brothers and a son of one of them, had to appear in court today. Given the complexity, two days were allocated to the case. 33-year-old DD is seen as the main suspect. His 63-year-old father RD and uncle JD of the same age are co-suspects.
The family business is registered on the Sloterweg in Badhoevedorp, a company targeting rental and lease of machines and installations for construction. The building in Anna Paulowna, where the drug laboratory was discovered, was registered as a branch of the company.
But there were doubts as to whether everything was pure coffee, which prompted the police to keep an eye on the family.
And so the police discovered that DD’s car was used by a man who was already suspected of dealing in drugs. In 2021, this Delft resident was sentenced to seven years in prison convicted for setting up drug labs, including the one in Anna Paulowna.
Expensive cars, watches and a jet ski
According to the Public Prosecution Service, that man from Delft is a ‘master chef in the production of synthetic drugs’. The 33-year-old suspect DD would via an encrypted EncroChat have had contact with him and also with others. That is why he is seen as an important intermediary. He himself denies that he had contact with the Delft resident, and he also says that he did not have the EncroChat account.
Furthermore, DD in particular often had cash, but also expensive cars, watches, a jet ski and foreign real estate, which were suspected to have been paid for with dirty money. The police were anonymously tipped off that the family would spend dirty money and that they would also have contact with members of the infamous and now banned motorcycle club No Surrender.
In the meantime, local residents had already smelled a strange odor several times near the farm with shed in Anna Paulowna, owned by the D. family and no one had lived there since 2019. A neighbor associated the smell with acetone, another thought they worked with boats. A third thought of a chemical smell. There was a container in the yard.
‘Not pure coffee’
“I heard voices coming from the container,” a neighbor said in the witness interview. “I asked if anyone was there. Then DD walked out and I saw two more people in the container. There was a smell of acetone coming from the container. I asked what he was doing. He said he was cleaning the container. cleaning. Of course it wasn’t pure coffee.”
In her indictment, the public prosecutor emphasizes the danger of a drug lab for the environment. “It gives a very unsafe feeling and must be combated strictly. The prospect must be a hefty punishment, in the hope that it has a deterrent effect. Because that this is and remains necessary, is evident from the many drug labs that are found. “
Six years in prison have been demanded against the 63-year-old brothers, with ownership of the plot in Anna Paulowna – if left to the Public Prosecution Service – reverting to the state. 33-year-old DD should be in prison for seven years, according to the public prosecutor, with a fine of 80,000 euros. Millions of dollars are also being claimed for drug proceeds.
The judge will announce tomorrow when he will rule in the case.