Small news bit to be filed in the section "Dutch illegal drugs trade". (latest episode here) According to the mayor of the Dutch town of Westervoorde the mob is infiltrating schools and universities with the aim to recruit chemistry students for a "career" in illegal drug laboratories. (NOS news). It has prompted him to consider preparing course material for students to educate them on the dangers of getting involved with criminals. And he is serious about this: his province has 125,000 students and they are recruited "on a large scale" as drug couriers and also partly as producers.

Crime site crimesite.nl is sceptical. (link) How many students actually find employ in this industry? They asked one of the chemistry student bodies but they do not know of any incident involving one of their members.

Reminds me of a infamous case of 25 years ago where a DSM employee was caught moon lighting as a analytical chemist for the local drug cartel. What makes that case remarkable is that this guy was that good the company took him back after he had served his sentence.

Rik

PS You have to understand Dutch to appreciate this one but the NOS site mentions "scheikunde" AND "chemie" students as if you can choose which degree to pursue. In fact both terms are synonymous, the older term "scheikunde" meaning "the art of separation".