In the investigation into an illegal drug lab unearthed in Lendelede, West Flanders, the Office of the Public Prosecutor is appealing against the dismissal of charges against lawyer Nancy Vanhee by the Bruges Council Chamber.
However, it is not contesting the acquittal of lawyer Walter Van Steenbrugge.
The Ghent Chamber of Indictments must now decide whether Vanhee will be referred to a criminal court for being a member of a criminal organisation.
The investigation started on the basis of information about a well-known figure in the West Flemish drug environment who was already convicted in 2017 for his involvement in a cannabis plantation in Ledegem.
The investigators eventually set their sights on a man in his fifties from Ostend as possibly a pivotal figure.
As part of a judicial investigation into the production and export of narcotics, the West Flemish Federal Judicial Police carried out a series of house searches on 8 September 2020.
A large lab for the production of synthetic drugs was found on a farm in Lendelede. Up to two tonnes of amphetamines could be produced in an old pigsty and, according to the prosecutor’s office, dangerous chemicals were also present. It may even have been the largest drug lab ever in Belgium.
