Friends drink champagne laced with ecstasy, one of them dies. Investigators suspect that it was smuggled goods. But how did she get to the Upper Palatinate of all places?
A group of friends and acquaintances order a large bottle of champagne in a restaurant. After the first swallow, the women and men between the ages of 33 and 52 collapse convulsively and are taken to the hospital. A short time later one of them dies, the others sometimes have to be treated in hospital for days. After a toxicological examination of the contents of the bottle, it was clear that it not only contained champagne, but also the drug ecstasy, an extreme amount of it.
The case, which took place in a popular restaurant in the middle of Weiden’s old town, shocked not only the townspeople. The media across Germany suddenly reported on Weiden – perhaps because there has never been a case like this in Germany, as confirmed by the State Criminal Police Office in Munich. In 2019, the police in the Australian metropolis of Sydney seized liters of liquid ecstasy in champagne bottles. But how does such smuggled goods get into a town of 42,000 in the Upper Palatinate? The investigation is focused on this question. There have already been several searches in Weiden. “With such a find, of course, you look to see if there is more,” says senior public prosecutor Gerd Schäfer. However, no other drugs were seized.
According to Schäfer, there was an arrest. However, it turned out that there was insufficient suspicion. According to the local press, it is said to have been the owner of the restaurant. The host’s partner is said to have brought the sealed bottle to the table and opened it. She also drank the poisoned champagne and had to go to the hospital. Investigators assume that nobody in the restaurant poured the drug into the bottle.
According to Schäfer, opening a bottle, filling in liquefied ecstasy and closing the bottle again in such a way that it is not noticeable is entirely possible. In order to gather further information on this, the manufacturer of the champagne will also be contacted. The LKA is familiar with the method of liquefying the drug. “The drugs are smuggled dissolved in liquids and then extracted again, dried and pressed into tablet form,” said a spokesman for the LKA. In this way, the risk of discovery is relatively low.