“Party drugs”
The MDMA is in different forms: tablets (ecstasy), crystals and powder. The consumption of this drug, mainly appeared in the mid -1980s, is often associated with the world of the night.
The consumption of these drugs provides sensations of euphoria, well-being and resistance to fatigue. In high doses, MDMA can have hallucinogenic effects. As for speedit is especially renowned for its stimulating and anorexigenous properties. It is most often in the form of powder intended to be sniff or even more marginally, injected. The price of these products relatively accessible from cocaine (almost 5 euros for an ecstasy tablet in Belgium) makes these drugs very attractive and popular with various audiences.
“Drugs and weapons often go hand in hand, because networks active in drug trafficking need to be armed to protect their earnings”
The Netherlands are considered the main producers worldwide of these synthetic drugs. But the bordering Belgian provinces that are Limburg, Antwerp and Liège, are also very famous in this area, making Belgium one of the “paradise” of this type of drug.
At least two clandestine drug manufacturing laboratories are dismantled each month in Belgium. The authorities have launched a real hunt for illegal labos, where small hands are exploited to produce – often at the risk of their lives – these “party drugs” in large quantities, for a constantly growing market.
-To continue the fight against drug trafficking, the strategy of the six -month prolonged hotspots in Brussels
Europe, a key player in this market
At the end of April, Europol announced the dismantling of an important underground laboratory housed in a manor in Bree (Limburg) and producing synthetic drugs “on an industrial scale“.
A large -scale police operation was carried out by the Federal Judicial Police (PJF) of Limburg, the Belgian team of drug laboratory dismantling – also named the Lab Response Unit clan (CRU) – as well as police experts from the National Institute of Criminology and Criminaltics (Incc). The whole thing, with the support of Europol, very active in the fight against these drugs of narcotics that have swarmed on our territory for many years.
During this operation, three people were arrested. Two Dutch nationals identified as chemists, responsible for drug production, and a Belgian national who facilitated the production process. According to investigators, it was an active laboratory for more than a year, with a production capacity of hundreds of kilos of amphetamine and methamphetamine each month.
Europol considers synthetic drugs as one of the main threats to the European Union. Europe is a key player in this market, because the industrial production of synthetic drugs takes place in the EU to meet demand in national and international markets.
