2024 was a year in which the Brabant drug world was in full swing and produced for customers all over the world. With at least 36 drug labs discovered in our province, it seems to be a record year. Nationally too, it appears that the number of labs is higher than ever, insiders in the investigative world report. The dangers of the labs and drugs are also increasing.
Brabant dominated for years with the most labs. But that changed in 2023. Everything indicates that South Holland also had the most labs this year. The increase there is mainly caused by an explosive increase in cocaine labs. But there are no reliable figures from the other provinces yet.
The labs were mainly located in West Brabant, more than in the east.
Flakka
Perhaps the largest and most industrial Brabant laboratory of the year was located in a greenhouse complex on the outskirts of Bergen op Zoom. There were also plenty of little ones. Just like in 2023, the police found another flakka lab, this time in Noordhoek. Furthermore, crystallization labs for amphetamine oil popped up everywhere.
Puss
The lab in Someren-Heide was special. In the same place as four years ago and again with the same suspect. Also bizarre: the lab that was hidden on the top floor of an office building in Best.
The police made a special discovery in Zegge. Little more is known about this other than that 3-CMC was made: mainly known to users as Poes.
Export
The production is diverse: everything can be made and delivered. Speed (amphetamine) and ecstasy (MDMA) remain the most commonly produced drugs in Brabant. The demand for designer drugs is increasing, just like ketamine. Because the global market continues to grow. The vast majority of pills, powders and crystals from Brabant are for global export.
Procaine
Cocaine labs have become indispensable. These were discovered in Breda and Kaatsheuvel, among others.
The police see the breakthrough of a new cutting agent nationally: procaine, labs are popping up especially around the port of Rotterdam. Procaine is a narcotic drug that looks exactly like coke and can therefore be mixed invisibly. There were such labs in Zundert and Dinteloord. With Colombian suspects.
Kill
Experts warn about the dangers of those types of coke labs. They point to a series of fatal accidents. Four deaths occurred in Rotterdam and Berkel en Rodenrijs alone. There was also an explosion in Meppel.
The worst accident in Brabant occurred in Zevenbergschen Hoek where a speed lab burned down. Three Brabant ‘cooks’ died in an illegal drug factory in Poederlee, Belgium.
Mixtures
The drugs themselves are also becoming riskier. Customs and police intercepted nitasenes, the deadliest drugs of the moment. The trail led to a suspect in Breda. The European drug watchdog warns about the emergence of extremely strong mixtures of all kinds of narcotics.
Cooks
Brabant chefs were also active outside the province this year and were in the news. The police dismantled ‘Brabant’ labs in Burgh-Haamstede, Middelburg, Roermond, Kwintsheul (South Holland) and Kuinre (Overijssel). Experts have been pointing out for years that it is an expansion and not a relocation.
National analyzes point to changes in the synthetic drug world. More combination boilers, in which you can make different types of drugs. And even labs without boilers. Drug factories are running at full capacity. This is clearly visible in the large warehouses that were discovered, with thousands of liters of raw materials in Landhorst, Breda and Ulvenhout, among others.
Discharges
Brabant saw relatively few dumpings on deserted forest paths this year. At the beginning of the year there was a short and heavy dumping wave in the far east of Brabant, with many thousand-liter barrels.
Discharge is done invisibly. The fear is that rivers, ditches, roadsides and soil in particular are being abused. Five discharge wells in Brabant, including the ‘drug pit’ in Halsteren, are silent witnesses to this. Cleaning is in full swing and is expensive.
An environmental scandal came to light in Baarle-Nassau. Police suspect that farmers have deliberately mixed drug waste with manure and spread it over fields.
Crane
More stood out in the drug world this year. The seaport police intercepted 3,000 kilos of cocaine in a crane in the port of Moerdijk. The largest find in years in Brabant.
Furthermore, a shipment of more than 540 kilos of coke was intercepted, destined for a company in Oud Gastel. Especially in the border region, drug couriers were caught with hundreds of kilos of coke.
Yet the coke seizures in the major ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp point to a turning point: From now on, many drugs come via Spanish and German ports.
Meth
The interception of 3,200 kilos of crystal meth was spectacular. Arrived from Mexico in the port of Rotterdam and destined for a company in Den Hout. It was the largest discovery of meth ever in Europe. Value: 160 million euros, at least.
There is a drug sector that has seen its best days. The world of illegal cannabis cultivation. The number of nurseries has been declining for years. Illegal weed mainly comes from abroad, such as Thailand and Canada.
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