Two illegal drug sites dismantled within a two-minute walk of each other: “At first glance there is no link” (Hoogstraten)

In addition to the cocaine laundry that was discovered last week in Meerle (Hoogstraten), another drug site was discovered a day later after a search a day later, a two-minute walk from the laundry.

During house searches in Meerle last week, illegal drug sites were found at two locations. “At first glance there would be no link between the two, but that is still being investigated,” explains Kato Belmans of the Antwerp public prosecutor’s office.

On April 18, the police closed down a cocaine laundry at Klein Eyssel in Meerle (Hoogstraten) after a house search. “The lab and CRU arrived on site to make observations. A judicial investigation was opened,” reads a press release from the Antwerp public prosecutor’s office.

READ ALSO. Cocaine laundry discovered in a home in Hoogstraten: “There was a strange smell”

Thanks to an anonymous tip that came in via the provincial hotline www.drugsplantenontdekt.be, a synthetic drugs laboratory could be dismantled a day later, on April 19, on the Strijbeekseweg, not far from the cocaine laundry.

It is not yet entirely clear whether the two have anything to do with each other. This was the 35th positive report from the anonymous reporting center in 2.5 years.

Medicines and weapons

“During the search, a synthetic drug laboratory, a large quantity of drugs, medicines, weapons, fireworks and all kinds of supplies for the production and sale of drugs were found. The laboratory and demining service DOVO arrived on the scene,” the public prosecutor’s office said.

Two Dutch men aged 30 and 31 were arrested. “They were arrested by the investigating judge on suspicion of unlawful production and trafficking of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances in association,” the public prosecutor’s office explains. “The council chamber in Turnhout confirmed their arrest on Tuesday. The judicial investigations are continued by the Federal Judicial Police (FGP) under the leadership of the investigating judge.”

(EC)