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Middle-Aged Couple Receive 25,000 Ecstasy Pills In The Post By Mistake

Middle-Aged Couple Receive 25,000 Ecstasy Pills In The Post By Mistake

The pair were expecting dresses from an online retailer... not much difference there then

Rebecca Shepherd

Rebecca Shepherd

A married couple in Austria were left somewhat confused when they received 25,000 ecstasy pills through the post in what turned out to be a botched drug deal.

The husband and wife, 59 and 58 respectively, were expecting a very different delivery - but opened their package and to their surprise found thousands of pills instead of the dresses they had anticipated.

According to local police, one of the parcels did include their clothes order (phew). The statement added that 'the other contained some 24,800 ecstasy tablets'.

Police issued a photo of the surprise delivery.
Austria Federal Police

It continued: "The cosy breakfast they had originally planned was quickly set aside. They were horrified."

According to the Evening Standard, the woman innocently mistook the purple pills for dress ornaments initially, but her husband quickly pointed out that he thought something more underhand was going on. Experience, maybe?

The couple took the now-suspicious package to their local post office in Linz, Austria, on 7 May and the city's drug squad was called upon.

They found that the unique delivery had been intended for a man almost 1,000 miles away in Scotland.

The pills did not reach their intended address. Stock image.
PA

It is believed that Austrian authorities sent details of the parcel to the National Crime Agency, whose officers conducted a search on a house in Glasgow back in July.

In the meantime, police in the Netherlands are trying to find out where the pills were originally produced.

A spokeswoman for Upper Austria's state police force said a 'technical mistake' had confused the couple's name with that of the intended recipient. "These things happen quite often," she commented, according to The Times.

Austrian police made a calculation and estimated a street value for the unintended ecstasy haul as being around £442,000 ($546,000). However, Scottish authorities later told CNN the likely UK value would be around £165,000 ($200,000).

A National Crime Agency spokesperson told CNN: "This is a live investigation and enquiries are ongoing."

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: News, Drugs