Drug production may be the reason for deadly explosion in Rotterdam Israel is probably deliberately destroying entire residential areas in the Gaza Strip

After the explosion in a residential complex in Rotterdam that killed three people earlier this week, the police are investigating whether drug production in the building was the cause of the disaster. Police in the port city said Saturday evening that forensic investigators had found several items in the rubble that could be related to drug production.

A 34-year-old man from Rotterdam was arrested in connection with this. Exactly what role he plays is being investigated by investigators, as is the question of whether the seized items caused the explosion.

Three dead discovered

The explosion and subsequent fire caused major damage to a residential complex in the south of the port city at the beginning of this week. Dozens of apartments are uninhabitable. Most residents were able to be evacuated in time. But it later became clear that three people were missing. After the fire was extinguished, the accident scene could not initially be searched due to the risk of collapse, police said. The dead were later discovered and recovered.

Police in the Netherlands regularly encounter illegal facilities for the production of synthetic drugs in apartments and buildings, which also use large quantities of chemicals.

As the police emphasized on Saturday, these drug laboratories and warehouses pose a major risk in residential and industrial areas: not only the production process, but also the storage of chemicals is dangerous. Waste from the production of medicines is also dumped in barrels in nature in the Netherlands, where it has a significant impact on the environment.

(dsc/sda/dpa)