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Belgian, French nationals arrested in Bolivia drug bust

A Belgian man, a French-Dutch woman and an Argentine national have been arrested on charges of operating a synthetic drug lab in La Paz, Bolivian police said Saturday.

Police said the raid Friday marked the first time a synthetic drug lab has been found in Bolivia, even though the Andean country is known as one of the world’s top producers of coca, the source plant for cocaine.

The drugs being made were derived from the hallucinogenic mushroom Psilocybe cubensis, known locally cucumelo, and bark of the hallucinogenic plant Mimosa tenuiflora, known locally as Jurema Preta, said Santiago Delgadillo, head of the police anti-narcotics task force.

Agents “forcefully entered a home where they discovered a laboratory producing the world’s most powerful synthetic drugs,” Delgadillo told reporters.

The mushrooms, which were brought in from Argentina, were combined in a chemical mix and added to a chocolate bar that was sold at La Paz nightclubs for $20.

The bark, originating from Brazil, was distilled with chemicals into crystals for inhaling.

Police identified the suspects as Argentine chemist Ariel Mag Gaw, 35, Johan Nicolas Bolensi, 52, from Belgium, and French-Dutch dual national Celine Audrey Stephanie Maake Brackhuis, 36.

Deputy narcotics police chief Marco Antonio Alvarez said that the drugs seized were “something new” in Bolivia.