Police and the justice ministry cannot cope with the fight against organised drugs-related crime because they do not have enough resources, Nos television reports on Wednesday.

‘We are working with all available resources but there is more than we can deal with,’ senior public prosecution department official Neetltje Geldermans told Dutch regional newspapers. ‘Police have to set priorities. I can only say I am concerned.’

Geldermans is in charge of the department’s efforts to combat the production of synthetic drugs and was reacting to the finding of two dead bodies in a drugs lab in Uden earlier this week. Police have not yet said who the victims were and what killed them.

A police spokesman told Nos radio the labs are becoming increasingly professional. ‘We see less of this taking place in the garden shed. People are becoming more expert,’ the spokesman said.

Police are also concerned at the way criminals dump empty chemical barrels in the countryside and are meeting justice minister Ivo Opstelten next month to discuss the problem. Chemical dumping is particularly an issue in Noord-Brabant.