Drugs lab find forces evacuations in The Hague

Up to 200 residents of a street in The Hague were allowed back into their homes at 11pm on Saturday, after police finished dismantling a drugs lab found in a house in the Segbroek district.

Residents of dozens of homes on the Meidoornstraat, along with their pets, were told to leave by 1pm on Saturday and were taken in at the district office on Fahrenheitstraat while the police and and a specialist firm removed the remaining chemicals.

The city council said on Sunday there was no longer any acute danger, and that the evacuation had been a precaution against exposure while the material was being taken away. Residents have been advised to keep their windows shut because of the smell.

Police were called to the house at around 1pm on Friday after a report of a strange smell, and found a lab still in operation. Officers shut down the production process by pumping out the chemicals. A 39-year-old man from The Hague who had come into contact with the liquids was taken to hospital and arrested.

A 34-year-old man from Voorburg was arrested at around 10pm on Friday. A 44-year-old from The Hague and a 71-year-old from Leiden were also held. Police are still investigating what type of lab it was and are canvassing the neighbourhood for witnesses and camera footage.

According to NOS, barrels holding thousands of litres of chemicals were found at the property, of which 500 to 750 litres were removed on Friday. A spokesman for the regional safety board told the broadcaster that a lab of that size would not normally be found in a residential area.