Suspect (35) fled to the Netherlands: arrested after death from ecstasy in a champagne bottle

class=”sc-29f61514-0 fwWrRV”>

After the fatal incident involving a champagne bottle containing drugs in Weiden, Germany, in February last year, investigators have arrested a suspect. The 35-year-old was arrested in the Netherlands after initially fleeing and was urgently identified as a suspect in cooperation with Dutch and Polish authorities, the Weiden Public Prosecution Service announced.

He is charged with gang trafficking in large quantities of narcotics, negligent bodily harm and negligent homicide. The suspect is said to have been responsible for storing the medicine in the Netherlands and ensuring that the bottles ended up with third parties. He has now been brought before the investigating judge of the Weiden court, who has ordered the execution of the arrest warrant. The man has not yet responded to the accusation.

A three-liter bottle contained ecstasy

In Weiden, a man died and seven other people were injured in February 2022 after drinking from a champagne bottle in a bar. Chemical tests later showed that the three-liter bottle contained highly concentrated ecstasy. At the time, the champagne manufacturer itself assumed that there was drug smuggling.

The investigators followed the route of the champagne bottle served on the night of February 13, 2022, as well as other bottles filled with drugs, back to the Netherlands. The bottles have recently been resold several times by various people who apparently did not know the true contents. This is how one of the champagne bottles ended up in Weiden.

Authorities called for caution with champagne

The investigation against the suspects will therefore continue, also with regard to possible accomplices, the Public Prosecution Service has stated.

Because of the drug-infused champagne, authorities in Germany and the Netherlands had called for particular caution at the time, warning that touching or drinking the contents of the bottles involved was “life-threatening.” The three-liter bottles filled with the drug, also called MDMA, were indistinguishable from the outside from bottles filled with champagne. However, the contents differed in smell and color from usual champagne. (nad/AFP)

Source: Blick