Prosecutors demand up to five years over Klazienaveen amphetamine lab

The Openbaar Ministerie (OM) has demanded prison sentences of five years, four years and 14 months against three men over a working drug lab on the Insulindeweg in Klazienaveen. Police raided the site on 27 November 2025, while amphetamine was being cooked. The district court in Assen will rule in two weeks.

The stirrer and gas burner under the kettle were on, and the kettle was at 110 degrees. The OM says amphetamine was being made on an industrial scale. The site could produce 1,000 litres of amphetamine oil per day.

Police found two men in the warehouse: a 49-year-old from Utrecht and a 48-year-old from Roermond. The owner of the warehouse is a 62-year-old man from Klazienaveen. The OM wants five years for the Utrecht man, four years for the Roermond man, and 14 months for the Klazienaveen man, seven of them suspended.

The prosecutor's case

The prosecutor says the Utrecht man had a leading role. “He seems to have been involved for a long time and approached the man from Klazienaveen about renting the warehouse,” the prosecutor said. “Although he tries to keep his role small, he is responsible for the entire production process.”

The Roermond man also played an important part, but for a shorter time, according to the OM. The Klazienaveen man made his warehouse available and helped build the lab, the OM says. He says he did not know what was going on. The prosecutor does not find that credible.

The defence

Harry Koning, lawyer of the Roermond man, calls four years far too much. “That seems like a lot to us,” he said. He says his client was not involved for more than 36 hours before the raid and that bringing raw materials does not make him a co-perpetrator: “wrong moment, wrong place”. The man has been in pre-trial detention for eleven months.

Stephan Wensing, lawyer of the Klazienaveen man, says his client “had no idea what the building was used for”. At most he was naive, Wensing said, and that is not a crime. He says the man drove a barrel and some bags in with his forklift but never entered the room where the drugs were made. Wensing wants an acquittal and says he will appeal against any unsuspended prison sentence.