The 55-year-old resident faces 15 months in prison for operating a drug lab on his farm in Hollandscheveld. The lab was set up in a log cabin in the yard and was rolled up September 3, 2020. “I was shocked when the lab was discovered,” said the Hollandschevelder on Tuesday before the court in Assen.
The lab came into focus during another police investigation. By cracking the messages from the encrypted messaging service EnchroChat, the agents read about the construction of a drug lab in Hollandscheveld. The police had sufficient reason to take a look at the yard. A 69-year-old man from Kiel-Windeweer and a 53-year-old man from Winschoten were busy installing electricity.
‘Knew nothing’
The sixty-year-old is also a suspect in a drug lab in his hometown, where a dead man was also found. According to the Public Prosecution Service (OM), De Winschoter is also involved in a drug lab in Blijham and Kerkenveld. These cases will be dealt with later by the court in Groningen. They were hired to run the power, they explained their presence. They knew nothing about a drug lab.
Previously produced
The lab in Hollandscheveld was intended for the production of crystal meth. In the woods near the plot and in a horse trailer were pallets with dozens of bags of acids and soda, which served as raw materials for the drugs. According to the public prosecutor, the chat messages show that there was a working lab. Kilos of drugs that had been produced were reported. And about the farmer who complained about odor nuisance.
Noisy Star
A drug dog struck at several locations on the property during the raid. The mast data shows that some of the chats were sent near the lab in Hollandscheveld. The address of the yard was mentioned in the messages. According to the public prosecutor, one of the participants in the chat conversation was the suspect. He texted under the name Noisy Star and drew up the rules that applied to his field.
Trade in clothes
If those rules were not adhered to, the power would be cut off, as threatened in the chat. The electricity came from the farm. The resident alone had the power to cut the power, the prosecutor said. The suspect denies. He rented the log cabin to a woman who traded in clothes. The lease was in this woman’s name. She paid three times the rent. The woman denied signing the contract.
Don’t mention names
She did pay the rent through her bank account, that was verifiable. She did this at the behest of others. She didn’t want to name names for fear. It is unknown if she was penalized for her role. The 17-year-old stepson of the suspect was also heard as a possible person involved. That case has since been dropped due to insufficient evidence (the boy will not be prosecuted).
In the stepson’s shoes
The public prosecutor strongly blames the fifty-year-old for not taking responsibility for what happened on his property. “The man puts everything in the shoes of his vulnerable stepson without batting an eyelid, said the prosecutor. The man only thought about the money he could earn. He didn’t worry for a second about his family, which he was endangering by having a drug lab built on the property.
Insufficient evidence
The passage of time allowed the public prosecutor to weigh in favor of the suspect. According to the lawyer of the Hollandschevelder, there was insufficient evidence. A PGB telephone has never been found with the suspect that can be used to send encrypted messages. The counselor also did not find the location of the suspect’s property was mentioned in the chat messages. She pleaded for acquittal.
The court will rule on July 4