Ecstasy was made in the drug lab that was discovered on Tuesday afternoon in a business premises without a name or logo in the Smoorstraat in Roosendaal. This became clear on Wednesday during the dismantling. At first there was talk about speed, but things are different. It is already the third drug lab to be discovered in the immediate area this year.
The lab came as a surprise to people who live and work in the area. “Suddenly it was black with cars. Passenger cars, vans. Officers with machine guns,” says a walker who witnessed the raid on the edge of the industrial estate on Tuesday.
Dead end
A Tilburg citizen (33) and a man (43) from Oirschot were inside the lab, which was hidden at the back of the building. They tried to flee, but were quickly caught. They couldn’t go anywhere, because there are fences everywhere. In addition, the Smoorstraat is a dead end. The street is sandwiched between two railway lines, to Breda and Rotterdam.
Police security remained in place the evening and night after the raid. This is common in buildings that contain something ‘valuable’, such as drugs. Everyone who drove into the street was checked. Officers also remained visibly present in front of the building on Wednesday.
Go-kart
People in the street say that someone also lives in the business premises, possibly a family. There are children’s toys in the yard, such as an old plastic go-kart. But there was no sign of life in and around the building on Wednesday. Only police and specialists.
Seon from Amsterdam had started working on the site at the side and back. They labeled and collected items from the laboratory. And they packed everything. In safe combinations. Acids with acids. Gas bottles separately.
Boiler
The team filled two trucks with small jerry cans, large blue barrels, gas burners, and hoses. But also high saucepans for 25 liters or more each. In the heart of the lab was a boiler: it could hold 700 liters, the police reported on Tuesday.
The first messages talked about an amphetamine lab: speed. On closer inspection, everything points to MDMA, or ecstasy. The police of the national unit (LE) confirmed this on Wednesday afternoon. Chemicals used for the production of at least 1,600 liters of drugs have been found on the site.
Stockpots
The dismantling team removed at least twenty high-pressure cylinders suspected of containing hydrogen gas. Experts always call these the dangerous parts of a lab. In the event of a fire or explosion, the steel bottles can burst or be launched and fly in all directions.
Also striking were two large plastic rudders, almost as new. This also applies to three gas burners. One of the large ‘soup pans’ showed that cooking had taken place. There was a brown gunk on the side. The soot from a burner on the bottom. According to police, the lab was in operation when officers raided it.
Trains
Making drugs within built-up areas is seen as risky because it can be noticeable. But here on the edge of the Borchwerf industrial estate there is so much traffic that it is hardly noticed. Trains that rumble past on both sides day and night create noise and an asphalt factory creates a typical smoke. Other companies in logistics and recycling are also active there. Just like the construction, at the front of the street. It never seems quiet here.
Three labs have already been discovered in this area since May, approximately five kilometers apart as the crow flies. The police recently discovered a large lab in a warehouse just outside Borchwerf and in May a meth lab in an Oud Gastel garage. As far as we know, they have nothing to do with each other.
Suspects have been arrested in all three cases and investigations are ongoing.
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