A court in Tongeren, Limburg, has sentenced a Maaseik resident and six Dutch nationals to prison terms ranging from 12 months to six years, along with fines of up to €100,000, for running a large-scale ecstasy-production lab in a city warehouse.
Prosecutors estimated that over 3.1 million ecstasy tablets, worth more than €15 million, were produced at the lab. Authorities confiscated €325,000 as part of the investigation.
On 2 February 2024, police raided the warehouse in Maaseik. They found a car and a lorry parked nearby, with the lorry carrying several barrels of waste from the dismantled drug lab inside the warehouse.
Items such as documents, masks, work gloves, and disposable overalls were discovered inside the car. The documents identified a 25-year-old Dutch man as the lab technician. He fled in another vehicle but was apprehended shortly after.
The owner of a house located in front of the warehouse was also questioned. He claimed that months earlier, a Dutch man had contacted him to rent the warehouse for a tropical fish business.
He realised something was amiss only weeks later when a strong chemical odour began emanating from the site, prompting him to ask his tenants to vacate the warehouse.
