Dozens of boxes containing 2,000 kilograms of Ketamine have been discovered in a shed in Muideberg, a village east of Amsterdam, with a street value of tens of millions of euros.
“This is the largest amount of ketamine ever found in the Netherlands,” police say.
Acting on a tip, the police raided the property and arrested a 55-year-old man, who lives in a house on the premises. Two children were also found and brought to an emergency shelter.
The police removed the Ketamine, along with several kilograms of hard drugs, and destroyed them, it said in a statement. Police estimate the stash to have a street value of almost €55 million.
Trading Ketamine without registration can be punished by up to six years in prison in the Netherlands. According to the police, trafficking is “accompanied by other forms of crime, such as money laundering and weapons possession.”
Ketamine, an anaesthetic for depression and anxiety, is not illegal in the Netherlands and is increasingly used as a party drug because of its hallucinogenic effects.
The Netherlands has been struggling with drug trafficking and drug use. Amsterdam’s mayor Femke Halsema warned in an op-ed in the Guardian on January 5 that “without a fundamental change of course, the Netherlands is in danger of becoming a narco-state.”
In July 2023, sniffer dogs at the Rotterdam port found eight tons of cocaine hidden inside banana boxes. The haul was worth €600 million and came to the Netherlands from Ecuador.
