A man in Maasmechelen is facing a 30-month prison sentence and a €12,000 fine for setting up a cannabis plantation in the flat above his shisha bar without the landlord being aware the space was being used, the Belga News Agency reports.
The suspected man converted the whole building without the permission of his landlord so that he could get into the apartment above his bar. The prosecutor also asked the Tongeren Criminal Court to forfeit €200,000 the man earned from his plantation.
The man started a shisha bar on Kruindersweg in Maasmechelen in late 2017. For his bar, he rented a commercial building above which an empty flat was located. Without the landlord of the property noticing, he conducted his own renovation so that he could also enter the apartment above his business via a self-made hidden staircase and passageway.
He then replaced all the locks of the flat and barricaded the separate entrance door. During the renovations, he also took all the materials for the cannabis plantation through his business to the apartment. In late 2019, he started a cannabis plantation of about five hundred plants.
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The Maasmechelen man was thus able to operate above his shisha bar undetected for some time until the police got wind of his side earnings in March 2021. During the search of the bar, the officers found the locked passageway. Since they only had a search warrant for the business, they asked the owner of the building if they could also take a look inside the vacant flat.
To the great surprise of the building owner, he could no longer enter the flat. After breaking down the door, he and the officers found the professionally set-up plantation. From the lime deposits on the filters and equipment, clippings and potting soil left behind, investigators could deduce that he had harvested at least five times.
The verdict will be issued on 3 April.
