In Germany, one man has died and seven others who were at his table sick after drinking champagne laced with ecstasy at a party. The incident echoes one that happened near Antwerp in 2020.
On Saturday evening, five men and three women were rushed to a nearby hospital experiencing pain and discomfort after drinking from the same champagne bottle at a restaurant in Bavaria, southern Germany. One 52-year-old man died. The seven others are recovering, Belga News Agency reports.
Toxicology tests revealed that the 3-litre champagne bottle contained a high concentration of ecstasy, Gerd Schaefer, senior prosecutor in Weiden, told media outlets. An investigation has been opened for manslaughter, assault and battery, and narcotics violations.
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The restaurant staff opened the bottle at the table, and Schaefer said that it did not appear anyone targeted the party. The incident is likely a negligent homicide, but further details remain to be revealed, the Associated Press reported.
In March 2020, a Belgian woman died in Puurs, south of Antwerp, after drinking from a bottle of red wine containing large doses of MDMA.
Belgian police suspected the bottle of wine was one of several adulterated as a means of smuggling the narcotics into the country. The wine brand, Black & Bianco RED Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon, was not sold in Belgium but available in the Netherlands.
In 2020, Bpost reported an increasing amount of illicit drugs being smuggled into or out of the country disguised as common consumer products, The Brussels Times previously reported. The scale of the problem is immense. One litre of liquid MDMA can produce about 6,000 ecstasy pills.
