Two people have been detained in connection with the discovery of a lab producing the illicit drug ecstasy (MDMA) on a Belgian NATO installation that holds nuclear weapons, according to prosecutors.
The two people who were arrested were not workers at the NATO military base, according to a spokesman for the Limburg prosecutor’s office in Belgium, and they were freed after being interrogated.
According to the prosecutor’s office, “On Wednesday, June 22, 2022, the local police of the Kempen discovered a synthetic drugs laboratory, located on the military domain (NATO) in Peer,” French publication Le Figaro writes.
The drug lab “was dismantled by the specialized services of the Federal Police, in collaboration with the National Institute of Criminology (NICC) and the Civil Protection,” the prosecutor’s office noted.
Le Figaro claims that the base is situated in a region that is well-liked by drug traffickers because it is situated between Antwerp and the German Ruhr region.
According to Belgian MP Samuel Cogolati, up to 10 to 20 warheads were kept at the base in 2019. The Kleine-Brogel base is one of several NATO bases in Europe that hold nuclear weapons belonging to the US military.
Hundreds of British troops were denied deployment to a NATO mission following claims of orgies occurring at the Merville Barracks in Colchester, Essex, just days before to this case.
While the Russian invasion and conflict in Ukraine continue, with the majority of the combat occurring in the country’s east, NATO officials gathered this week for a summit in Madrid.
Nuclear weapons remain in the background of the fight, but there are still fears that they will be used, given the harsh language from some in Russia.
According to Malcolm Chalmers, deputy director of the Royal United Services Institute in London, the prospects of Russia deploying nuclear weapons are minimal “as long as Russia feels it’s winning.”