LANDGRAAF - The 42-year-old Eric van den B., until last year the operator of hotel-restaurant Overste Hof in Landgraaf, has been in a Belgian cell for almost three months. Justice in Belgium suspects the bankrupt investor of being one of the operators of a hemp plantation in a house in Plombieres, just across the border near Vaals.According to his lawyer Serge Weening, five hundred hemp plants were found in that house. "A very limited amount by Dutch standards, for which you really don't go to jail here. And my client's involvement, in my opinion, has not been established."

Van den B. is of in the Lantin prison in Liege, according to Weening the "Hell of Belgium. If it is up to the investigating judge, he will remain there for at least another month. The investigation is still ongoing. Van den B. was arrested on October 24; a day later followed the arrest of a second person.

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