Agents have made a striking find in Rucphen. Stolen barrels of lithium were found near a carnival float. That is a chemical that is in batteries and medicines. Not in carnival floats.
Officers were conducting a check on Tuesday afternoon. They went to look in an old farm in the municipality of Rucphen. Exactly where that was and why they were looking there has not been disclosed. Inside they found ‘a large batch’ of chemical substances. The police also used the word “undermining” in the message.
Thieves
According to a spokesman for the national unit, it was a batch of stolen barrels of lithium. The owner has meanwhile got the stuff back and will file a report. Whether there is a connection with the carnival car and the stolen items is unknown. The police do not have the impression that it is a construction warehouse, but rather a warehouse.
Initial investigations show that the barrels were temporarily placed there by the thieves for transport elsewhere. No one has been arrested yet.
At least seventeen black metal barrels are visible in the police photo. These are so-called clamp-lid drums that can hold 60 liters each. If they are all filled, there could therefore be more than a thousand liters in total. But according to the police, 174 liters of lithium were found.
‘dangerous’
One of the labels bears the word ‘Poitiers’, a city in the center of France. Perhaps it came from there or that was the destination. The blue warning label means that the substance becomes dangerous when it comes into contact with moisture: ‘dangerous when wet’.
A building shed for carnival floats always contains chemical substances, such as polyester, fiberglass and glue. The chemical lithium is uncommon in the construction world.
Research
The municipality of Rucphen says it is awaiting the results of the ongoing investigation. “Once the results are known, we will investigate internally which measures may be legally possible and/or necessary.
Every municipality has the authority to close places if illegal things have happened.