Dutch man arrested in Bucharest with 12 kilograms of ‘zombie drug’

Romanian authorities reported that a 50-year-old Dutch man was arrested in Bucharest after police caught him transporting about 12 kilograms of a banned psychoactive substance known on the illicit market as the “zombie drug.” Investigators said the drugs were shipped from the Netherlands to Romania through an international transport company, and that the suspect unsuccessfully attempted to flee after being intercepted.

The Romanian Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism, known as DIICOT, said prosecutors ordered the man’s detention on January 23 as part of an investigation into illegal operations involving substances capable of producing psychoactive effects.

According to investigators, the suspect obtained approximately 12 kilograms of the psychoactive substance N-ethylnorpentedrone in the Netherlands earlier this month. Authorities stated that the suspect intended to distribute the substance commercially in Romania.

According to the prosecution, an international shipping company brought the drugs to Romania. The suspect was apprehended by authorities as he was transporting two large rolling suitcases that he had gathered from the company's local office in Bucharest.

He was traveling in a rented vehicle operating as a taxi at the time of the arrest. The police found multiple bags containing the psychoactive substance inside the suitcases.

Authorities said the substance is commonly known on the black market as the “zombie drug” and is one of the psychoactive substances frequently used by young consumers. From the quantity seized, investigators estimate that at least 120,000 individual doses could have been produced.

Prosecutors said that in Romania the drugs are typically divided into small packets containing no more than 0.10 grams and usually sold for about 10 lei per packet.

Authorities warned that the low price makes the drug easily accessible to dependent users, whom they described as particularly vulnerable. Prosecutors added that the use of the substance maintains users in a state of physical and psychological dependence and can lead to serious health damage and death.

On Friday, DIICOT prosecutors asked a judge at the Bucharest Tribunal to order the suspect held in pretrial detention for 30 days. DIICOT said all suspects are entitled to the rights and procedural guarantees provided under Romania’s Criminal Procedure Code, including the presumption of innocence.