Prosecution seeks prison terms for illegal drug website operators

The Dutch Public Prosecution Service (OM) has requested prison sentences of 10 years and 6.5 years for two men linked to the illegal website Slaappillen.net. The defendants, residents of Breda, were involved in the professional operation of a million-euro business that sold dangerous medications.

One defendant is accused of managing large quantities of illegal substances, including 400,000 pills, while the other, an employee at PostNL, allegedly facilitated the shipping of orders. The prosecution highlighted that the site sold counterfeit oxycodone containing the highly dangerous substance nitazene.

Nitazene has been detected in the bodies of 13 people who died in the Netherlands, including at least three linked to these specific contaminated tablets. While the defendants claim they were unaware of the lethal nature of the products, prosecutors described them as ‘crucial links’ in a criminal network that targeted vulnerable customers through easy payment methods like iDeal.