The Belgian prosecution office has called for a five-year prison sentence for two Dutch nationals who ran a webshop called Funcaps, selling fake and illegal tranquilisers and sleeping pills with lethal consequences.
Jord van W and Stefan P, aged 31 and 30, and both from Limburg, earned millions of euros from the sale of fake tranquilisers and sleeping pills, which are only available on prescription, as well as designer drugs.
A Belgian court had sentenced them earlier to 120 hours of community service and an €80,000 fine but the public prosecutor as well as the two suspects have appealed against the sentence.
The Belgian prosecutor wants the sentence to reflect the death of a 44-year-old man who died in 2021 after overdosing on a designer drug purchased on Funcaps.
The two, who started their activities in Belgium during lockdown, said they had no “criminal intentions.” “If we had known this would happen, we would never have done it,” Van W told the judge.
The two are also on trial in the Netherlands, where Funcaps was initially linked to 27 deaths. That has since been upped to a possible 58.
Messages between the two read out during the first Dutch preliminary hearing show a callous disregard for any effects the drugs could have on users, the Dutch prosecutor said.
“Another stiff” one of the messages read, accompanied by a smiling and a sad emoji. About the Belgian victim another message said “Yes, cancer Belgians, they brought in a lot of dosh and not that many dead”.
The second Dutch hearing is scheduled for April 20 in Zwolle.
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