On Monday morning 4 June 2018, the Northern Netherlands police cannabis team raided the former headquarters of potato-starch producer Avebe on Avebeweg in Foxhol and found thousands of cannabis plants inside the factory building.[1][2] The building had served as Avebe’s headquarters until 2012, when the company moved to Veendam and the Foxhol premises were sold.[1][2]
Police had opened an investigation after several anonymous tips, finding that the apparently vacant building consumed an extraordinary amount of electricity with no visible business activity inside.[1][2] The power had been tapped illegally from grid operator Enexis, which reported the theft and sought to recover the costs and the stolen energy from the suspects.[1][2]
Six arrests
Officers arrested three men at the site: a 37-year-old from Den Helder, a 38-year-old from Sint Jacobiparochie and a 47-year-old from Julianadorp.[1][2] The building’s owner, a 50-year-old man from Dedemsvaart, had been receiving thousands of euros a month in rent from a 60-year-old man from Burgum and a 54-year-old man from Leeuwarden, and all three were arrested after the raid on suspicion of cultivating cannabis.[1][2] All 5,000 plants and the growing equipment were seized and destroyed.[1][2]
