The Public Prosecution Service states that it can demonstrate that eighteen people died after using substances that they had purchased via the website Funcaps, which has now been taken offline, the ANP reports. In addition, the Dutch Forensic Institute is investigating four other deaths. This information emerged on Thursday during an introductory hearing against the three suspects at the court in Zwolle.
Since the corona period, the suspects have not only sold heavy medicines via Funcaps, but also so-called designer drugs, which are often in a legal twilight zone. The Limburg owners of the website, Stefan P. (30) and Jord van W. (32), offered benzodiazepines, as well as designer drugs such as 2-MMC.
The two owners of Funcaps will await trial in custody. Jord van W. also has a long-term visa for Dubai, which, according to the Public Prosecution Service, poses a possible flight risk.
‘Another dead one’
The Public Prosecution Service accuses the suspects of continuing to sell the drugs despite signals about health incidents and deaths. During an earlier interim hearing, the Public Prosecution Service presented messages from the suspects in which derogatory communications were made about the deaths of customers. “Another dead one,” they sent to each other.
The Funcaps case touches on a broader problem surrounding the online trade in medicines and designer drugs, which has increased significantly in recent years. Such platforms work relatively simply, while users often have insufficient insight into the composition and dosage of the products they order.
In Belgium, the suspects have already been sentenced on appeal to prison terms of up to three years in a similar case. Resources could also be ordered from their webshop there.