Two people were arrested after the discovery, on a Belgian military base known to house part of the nuclear arsenal at the disposal of NATO, of a laboratory for the manufacture of ecstasy pills.
A laboratory for the manufacture of ecstasy pills was discovered on a Belgian military base known to house part of the nuclear arsenal at the disposal of NATO, we learned on Tuesday from a judicial source.
Two people were arrested on the spot, who “are not Defense employees”, told AFP a spokesperson for the prosecution of the Belgian province of Limburg (north).
They were released after being questioned by the investigators, according to the prosecution, which does not specify whether there was a charge.
“On Wednesday June 22, 2022, the local police in the Campine discovered a synthetic drug laboratory, located on the military domain (NATO) in Peer” and “used for the production of MDMA” (or ecstasy), indicated the prosecution in a press release.
The laboratory, adds the press release, “has been dismantled by the specialized services of the federal police, in collaboration with the National Institute of Criminology (NICC) and Civil Protection”. It would seem that “a neighboring house” is involved in the creation of this clandestine laboratory, it is underlined.
“10 to 20” nuclear warheads in storage
If the subject is very rarely mentioned by the Belgian Defense or the executive, this military domain – in Kleine-Brogel in the municipality of Peer – is known in the country to host American nuclear weapons within the framework of the defense system of the NATO, with other bases in Europe.
As early as the end of the 1980s, a Belgian minister recognized the presence of nuclear weapons at the Kleine-Brogel base, where a contingent of the American army operates.
But no details have ever been given on their number.
The surroundings of the Belgian base are regularly the scene of demonstrations by pacifists and ecologists who denounce this lack of transparency.
In 2019, Belgian MP Samuel Cogolati (Ecolo) estimated that “from 10 to 20” nuclear warheads were stored under American control on this base.
Furthermore, the province of Limburg, bordering the Netherlands, halfway between the port of Antwerp and the German Ruhr, is a mainly rural area which is popular with traffickers for nesting storage warehouses or clandestine laboratories of drug processing.