We join the Dutch（荷兰的） police on the trail（痕迹） of drug mafia gangs（一帮）. I think we're on to something. Producing synthetic（合成的） drugs not only requires a lot of chemicals, it also produces tons（吨） of highly toxic（有毒的） waste, which usually ends up in the environment. There are homes and children here. Driven by greed（贪心）, the cartels often pressure residents（居民） into cooperating（合作）. A farmer received a threatening letter in the letterbox, it read, "We know where your children go to school."

  How dangerous is this toxic waste for humans and the environment? Across the border in western Germany, there are problems too. This is a sleepy village north of Bielefeld. In April 2019, a startling（令人吃惊的） discovery was made（使）. We just couldn't imagine that such a large drug lab could be set up on our doorstep, in this village without anyone noticing. Ralf Lorre heads up the local volunteer fire department.

  One Sunday morning, during breakfast, he saw something shocking. Looking out of the window, there was a fire raging（ 狂怒） not far from his home, right next to his workshop（车间）. Lorre drove straight over. Just as he arrived, two strangers were leaving the burning building, which belonged to a local businessman. At that moment, two men came out of the building, and one of them had a gas mask（面具） on. They fled（ 逃走） the scene in a van.

  Other firefighters（消防队员） from Ralf Lorre's department then arrived. They entered the building to investigate. At first, they didn't know what to make of it. There were countless（无数的） propane gas cylinders（圆筒）, all stacked（堆积） in the entrance area. It was almost impossible to get through. The explosive（爆炸的） cylinders（圆筒） were not only dangerous, but also highly unusual.

  Why would anyone need so much gas? The sheer（绝对的） amount of it was suspicious（可疑的）. Even inside, they found（找到） 1,000-liter canisters filled with chemicals, likely both toxic and explosive. The whole thing was a bit overwhelming（压倒性的）. Over the next few hours, it became clear that Lorre and his team were not dealing with a normal fire. They had stumbled（ 绊倒） upon the largest drug laboratory ever found（找到） in Germany.

  The Netherlands（荷兰（西欧国家））. It's December 2022. We're in the province（省） of Limburg. We're out with an undercover investigator（研究者） from the Dutch（荷兰的） police. To protect his identity, we're hiding his face and have distorted（扭曲） his voice. We'll call him Jan-Borges.

  It's always good and a bit exciting to be out at night. We have information that there might be a drug lab somewhere here in Berlingen, a village near here. We don't know if there are people there now. The special task force will go in first to check it out and make sure the area is safe. If there are people inside, they'll be arrested and if there are weapons, they'll be confiscated. Who should I follow?

  Follow you. Who? The guy with the Toyota. The most common synthetic drugs are ecstasy（入迷）, which is consumed in pill（药丸） form, speed, which can be snorted, and crystal（结晶） meth, the crystal（结晶） form of methamphetamine, which can be smoked or also snorted. Jan-Borges and his team, meanwhile, are getting ready to storm the drug lab. They discovered it while investigating undercover.

  The police approach（向…靠近） in convoy. The heavily armed（武装的） special forces unit is in the black van. They also have a bulldozer（推土机）, ready to tear（ 撕裂） open the gates so the special task force can enter quickly and surprise anyone who may be inside. The door is open, they're going in. Wearing gas masks to protect themselves from the chemicals used in drug production, the police storm the building. At the first door, the officers find nothing.

  You could try all the doors, it's building 52D or 2D IME. Should we open it? Yes, if you think there's someone there. The police break open a second door, and then a third. Inside the warehouse（ 仓库）, there are barrels（桶） of chemicals or something, so the LFO will now come and check them. But I think it'll be a good haul（拖）.

  The LFO is a department of the Dutch police force that specializes（成为…专家） in chemicals used in drugs. When something suspicious is found, it's called the LFO. The LFO is a department of the Dutch police force that specializes in chemicals used in drugs. When something suspicious is found, it's called the LFO. The LFO is a department of the Dutch police force that specializes in chemicals used in drugs. When something suspicious is found, they go in after the special forces unit to check whether there are hazardous（危险的） substances and secure（保护） the scene.

  They've got an inspection（检查） to see what's in the lab and if there are any toxic（有毒的） chemicals. Once we get the okay from them, we can go in. We're going. Come with me. Now the other police officers can enter the building. We're going in too.

  Our colleagues from the LFO say no drugs have been produced here yet. This is a laboratory under construction（建造）. This is where the stuff is. This is Rob（抢劫）. Rob de Frei is heading up the LFO operation. He's been taking a closer look at the chemicals.

  This is a drug laboratory under construction. We see here a very large boiler（锅炉） tank（坦克） with a capacity（容量） of around 1,000 liters. Then there are all sorts of suction devices. This still has to be assembled（集合）. If you look at the size of that tank, you could boil several hundred liters of chemicals in there at once. Look at the chemicals over here.

  They're in this tent. These barrels contain formamide, formic acid（酸）, and phosphoric acid（酸）. It's an amphetamine laboratory, almost ready to begin production. The chemicals would be mixed and heated in large metal containers using gas burners（煤气头）. And there are tons of chemicals. Toxic acids that would have produced around 1,000 kilos of amphetamines, with a street value of 1 million euros in just one week.

  Jan Bölkles and his colleague Joost Trollenbach, who's a special investigator for drug laboratories, have seen many such crime scenes. What's a bit unusual about this place is that here are the chemicals, here is the laboratory, next to it is a room where people who work here can sleep or have a cup of coffee. The thing is, once the process is running, you can't interrupt（中断） it. You have to stick with it. And if something goes wrong, you have to be able to intervene（干涉）. And that's where things get especially problematic（ 成问题的）.

  Because the people who make these drugs don't usually know what to do if it goes wrong. And so sometimes there are accidents and people get seriously hurt, because things explode and so on. We've seen it all. The Netherlands is Europe's biggest center for producing synthetic drugs. By chance, the police also stumble on a cannabis plantation（种植园） nearby（在附近） during their operation. But here the investigators are more concerned（有关的） about the synthetic（合成的） drugs as they involve toxic（有毒的） chemicals.

  Very few of the drug makers are chemists and aware of the dangers.