Prosecutors must release four suspects allegedly involved in a large drug lab in Velden by 5 p.m. Friday afternoon.
They are men from Sittard, Geleen and Beek. This was determined by the court in Roermond. One of them has been detained since the raid on the amphetamine production site on Nov. 22, 2017. The court considers the detention no longer "expedient.
Power outage
The trial of a total of six suspects could not go on Friday because of a power failure in prison De Geerhorst in Sittard. As a result, the door of the cell of a suspect from Geleen remained closed for some time. The prosecutor's police could only deliver the man to the courthouse at a quarter past eleven. The criminal hearing should have started at nine o'clock. "Given the number of suspects and lawyers, it is not realistic to start the substantive hearing of the case today," the court president said. A new hearing date has not yet been announced.
The court did offer defense counsel for the four detainees the opportunity to file suspension petitions. Counsel feel that their clients have now been detained more than long enough. Their position: that the case should be stayed is a technicality. No one can be blamed for that. In their view, the defendants should not suffer as a result. They asked for at least a suspension until the sentencing hearing.
Size
Prosecutor Monique Smits opposed the provisional release. Among other things, she referred to the size of the drug laboratory. The amphetamine production site in the outskirts of Velden-Schandelo was probably in use for a short time. It would have been a large lab, though.
In its decision, the court ultimately went beyond the wishes of counsel. The detention of all suspects was not suspended, but lifted altogether, as attorney Françoise Landerloo had advocated for one of her clients. The uncertainty about a new trial date also played into that decision. Two other suspects, men from Neer and Velden, have been at large for some time.
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