Since it was set up 4 years ago, 2,226 people have contacted a website where members of the public in Antwerp Province can anonymously report suspected cannabis plantations or drug labs. The Antwerp Prosecutor’s Office’s spokesman Kristof Aerts says that tipsd received via the site have led to the positive identification and location of cannabis plantations, drugs labs or dumped waste from the production of synthetic drugs. This year an average of 2 reports have been received each day.
Site where the public can report drug labs and cannabis plantations receives 2,226 tips in just 4 years
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4 years ago to the day on 15 December 2021 the police and the Antwerp Prosecutor’s Office launched the drugsplantageontdekt.be .
The site was launched on the initiative of the Governor of Antwerp Cathy Berx and all of the local police services in the province.
Danger to the public
Kristof Aerts of the Antwerp Prosecutor’s Office told VRT News that "It is always worthwhile to report something suspicious. Thanks to the tip we received we have located 48 plantations, 33 illegal drug waste dumps and 7 drug labs. With drug labs there is a danger of explosion, recently people died at a drug lab in Poederlee, or of toxic waste ending up in places where people go walking with their children”.
Although 88 successes from more than 2,000 reports via the website might not seem many, the prosecutor’s office stresses the importance of the tips.
The police and the prosecutor’s office say that more and more tips are being received via the site.