Recently, the court in The Hague made a favorable ruling for the Public Prosecution Service: from now on, the Public Prosecution Service can place (civil conservatory) liens on valuable property of convicted individuals to cover costs such as the dismantling of a drug lab.
Background
In 2024, a drug lab was found belonging to three suspects from North Holland. They were sentenced to imprisonment and a cost recovery measure. This means that the suspects must reimburse the costs incurred by the police to remove the drug lab and clean up the mess from their own pockets to the State. In this case, the costs were €100,000 per person. The Public Prosecution Service noted that one of them owns a house. That is worth money, and thus a lien was placed on it.
Where theres a will...
According to criminal law, you can place liens to pay compensation to victims of a crime or to settle fines. The Public Prosecution Service wondered why this is not possible for the cost recovery measure. This seems to have been overlooked in the law, which is why the Public Prosecution Service sought another legal solution to achieve the same goal. This was done by a number of asset recovery staff from the Public Prosecution Service, with the help of a civil advisor from the Functional Public Prosecutors Office and the State Attorney. The civil court was asked to grant a lien for the house. This means getting permission to place a lien on the house.
... there is a way
In March of this year, the civil court granted the lien, which is good news. This means that from now on, there is an additional option to seize assets from criminals involved in synthetic drug labs and cannabis cultivation. They are responsible for government costs incurred for the destruction of objects that pose serious dangers to the environment or public health. This is a win for society and offers the possibility to place (civil conservatory) liens in future drug cases.
Dangers and Damage
The social damage caused by cannabis cultivation and drug labs is enormous. Of course, drugs are harmful to the health of users. But the environment also suffers, for example, from the dumping of drug waste in nature. Moreover, there are dangers for the cooks who prepare the drugs and work daily with chemicals. Explosion hazards and fire are other significant risks, often resulting in innocent victims, such as neighbors.